Moral faculties or feelings of right and wrong have been planted in our mind by Christ. Romans 2:15 says “The work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.” Christ has placed a conscience in us so we are able to recognize when we do wrong. Our conscience has the ability to accuse or excuse another or one’s self, as the verse states.

The problem with our sinful and degenerate nature is that our consciences have gone down the same path, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 8:7: Our “conscience being weak is defiled.” We have to ask ourselves why is it that we don’t feel as much guilt as we should. We should also wonder when we can trust our conscience. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Therefore, to answer the question, we need to be careful about what our heart will lust after, or it will take us down a dark and dreary path. The Bible says “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23, 24). You may need to ask yourself in what direction the choices you make will send you—towards God or away from Him. Psalm 68:5 tells us that He is there for us as a father to the fatherless. Study your Bible more, pray often, and ask yourself what Christ would do in your position. “Take your conscience to the Word of God and see if your life and character are in accordance with the standard of righteousness which God has there revealed” (Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1, p. 323). Line your conscience up in harmony with the Word of God.

Don’t allow your conscience to degrade and become desensitized to the wickedness around you. Once you violate your conscience, it becomes weakened and unreliable. You stifle your conscience if you ignore or reject the pleadings of the Holy Spirit. “When, by rejecting the light that God has given, men abuse and trample upon the conscience, they are in fearful danger. Their future eternal welfare is imperiled” (Ibid., p. 320). Don’t stop your conscience from speaking to you. Allow it to point your guilt.

Remember Hebrews 9:14, which speaks directly to each of us, saying, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Our Lord and Saviour is trying so hard to get us to be attentive to what we each do on a daily basis. Ellen White writes:

“God’s frown is upon you, and yet you appear destitute of feeling; you do not realize your lost and undone condition. At times you do have feelings of remorse; but your proud, independent spirit soon rises above this, and you stifle the voice of conscience.”—Messages to Young People, p. 75.

We are also told that by following our Saviour’s example, we will have “inward peace and a conscience void of offense toward God” (Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 2, p. 693).

E.G. White says, “We are safe only in following where Christ leads the way. The path will grow clearer, brighter and brighter, unto the perfect day” (Ibid., vol. 1, p. 320).

Do not give Satan the satisfaction of winning your heart. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Remind yourself daily of how long you may or may not be on this earth. Don’t forget on whose side you are. Peace and happiness awaits those who hear “the voice within.”