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How to Train Your Conscience

God gave every person an internal moral thermostat. It’s their conscience, also called your inner voice. It can be a means of grace to help you change, or it can be your worst enemy. How do you biblically train your conscience? How can you distort it?

Your conscience will react to how you respond to life situations. An action transpires, and your conscience reacts to it. A right reaction will make your conscience more in-tune with God’s Word. A wrong response will cause a dulling effect that distances you from God and His truth.

If you do not respond correctly to the things in your life, your conscience will respond by laying down a thin hard layer over itself. It is similar to a person who lies in the sun too long. The skin toughens in reaction to the heat of the sun. Whether you are an unrepentant sinner or a sunbather, the result is the same: you will alter your sensitivities in unnatural ways.

The sunbather will have leathered skin as they age.
The unrepentant will have a hard heart.

You will never be freer than when your conscience and God’s Word are singing in harmony. If you continue to resist the truth, your conscience will become so calloused that you will not be able to discern right from wrong. Being blind to your blindness is the worst kind of blindness.

Time to Reflect

1. How would you describe your conscience? Is it weak, hard, dull, or biblically-informed? There are four ways to train your conscience correctly.

Canon – God’s Word tells you the truth.
Comforter – The Spirit of God illuminates you to the truth.
Community – Biblical friends hold you accountable to the truth.
Conscience – Your inner voice affirms that you’re walking in the truth.

2. How are these four means of grace working for you?
What changes do you need to make, so your conscience is more in-line with God’s Word?