Omar King—3 min read—Client resource
“The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever doubts is condemned . . .because. . . it is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith, to him/her it is sin.” (Romans 14:22-23)
I’m not usually someone to make New Year’s resolutions. However, over the past few years, I’ve been more interested in my inner life than in adopting external practices.
So, this year, I’ve decided to focus on addressing violations to my conscience, taking greater responsibility for my inner life.
What I mean is that I want to become better at listening to my conscience when it prompts me to act in particular ways. Whether it’s pausing one activity to focus on something more urgent or relevant in the moment, or starting something I’ve been procrastinating on, I believe much of our personal anxiety comes from accumulating small violations of our conscience. These violations are often projected onto the people around us, especially those close to us, and expressed as anger, criticism, or judgment because we haven’t acted properly in our own lives. Over time, guilt from these small conscious violations builds up and leads us to offload these feelings onto others to ease our conscience and feel better. When we blame others, our mistakes seem less serious. Subconsciously, we might think, “Whew, I feel better now that I’ve released my guilt.”
Paul, discussing conscience, said, “to him who knows what is right and fails to do it, to that person it is sin.” (Romans 14: 23) This suggests that sin can be subjective and relative. Not all sin, but some. The idea that our God-given agency influences what counts as sin is both complicated and comforting—complicated because subjectivity isn’t standardized, and potentially alarming for those with black-and-white thinking, who see right and wrong as dictated by consensus. Being on your own regarding what’s right for you can be unsettling. Comforting because we can make choices that feel right to us without needing to conform, and without guilt or fear of retribution.
However, we are capable of making decisions that others might not, exercising our agency to outcomes that vary. Romans 14 grants us permission to choose what we believe is good for us—meaning actions aligned with our conscience—and to abstain from actions that violate it.
God values our consciences. How we feel about our choices impacts us psychologically and influences our relationship with Him. God desires us to have a good relationship with Him, primarily by accepting Jesus as our atoning sacrifice, and also to feel that our relationship is good, based on our compliance with our Holy Spirit-informed and guided conscience.
An overactive conscience can become a barrier to self-acceptance, similar to an overactive immune system attacking healthy cells. It becomes overly sensitive, reacting to harmless thoughts and feelings.
An under-responsive conscience can cause us to neglect important issues. Since our actions have consequences, confronting those outcomes often leaves us confused and angry because of our lack of foresight. We tend to blame others, or even God, for the results of our mistakes. Proverbs 19:3 reflects this idea: “When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.”
Tuning one’s conscience involves effort—to care about the right things, in the right way. A healthy conscience evolves to better distinguish between good and evil.
God wants our consciences to be healthy and pure. He wishes us to feel enough discomfort about our faults to be a refuge for Jesus, while also recognizing that our psychological self-acceptance, linked to our agency, is vital. Saying “for him/her it is sin” implies that individuals are entrusted with moral judgments made by their conscience, a part of the divine design that God delights in and does not want to take away.
A well-refined conscience, cultivated through consistent practice, is a genuine blessing to the soul. While our consciences are not flawless, they can, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, offer a sense of equanimity—calm and balance. Frequently, we seek stability and security from the external world, often neglecting the crucial role that acting in harmony with our conscience plays in establishing a firmer foundation in life.
Today, our lives often feel as though they are not truly our own, driven by external forces, often malevolent. Building strong confidence in our behavior can serve as a shield against such outside influences. A fulfilling life depends more on our own choices than on the actions of others that affect us. While we should pray for righteousness to prevail and wickedness to diminish in the world around us, we should also pray that God refines and enhances our own conscience through the Lord.