A Hurting Conscience

Bible Reading: Acts 24:16; 1 Timothy 1:5, 18-19

“I’m hungry!” declared Elle one afternoon. “And you know what, Toby? There’s candy way up on the top shelf of the cupboard. Let’s sneak some before Mom gets back from the store. She’ll never know! I’ve done it lots of times, and she’s never caught me yet!”

Her brother frowned. “Doesn’t that make you feel guilty?”

“Nah,” Elle replied. “At first it did, but it doesn’t bother me anymore.” Toby still hesitated, but when he saw his sister eating a chocolate bar, he just couldn’t resist.

When their mom got home, Toby and Elle went outside to play in the snow. An hour later, Mom came to the door. “It’s really cold out. Why don’t you come in and I’ll fix you some hot chocolate?” That sounded good, so they went into the house.

Mom was shocked when she saw how wet and cold the kids’ feet were. “Why didn’t you come in sooner?” she asked. “Didn’t your cold feet hurt?”

“At first they bothered me, but we wanted to finish our fort,” said Toby. “After a while, they didn’t feel so cold—I hardly noticed them at all. But they don’t feel very good now!”

“That cold feeling was a warning,” said Mom. “If you had stayed out too much longer, you might have gotten frostbite. Let’s get those feet warmed up.” She began to rub Elle’s feet gently. “The most dangerous time isn’t when you feel cold, but when you stop feeling it,” Mom said. “It’s like your conscience. God created each of us with a built-in warning system called a conscience. When it hurts us, we should pay attention and admit we’re doing something wrong. Ignoring it can be dangerous. If our conscience stops bothering us when we do something wrong, we can allow sinful patterns into our lives. It helps us know when we’ve done something we need to confess to Jesus.”

Toby and Elle looked at each other when Mom left the room. “Now that my feet are warming up, they hurt—almost as much as my conscience does,” Toby said.

Elle nodded. “My conscience hurts again too, but I think we’ll feel better when we tell Mom about the candy—and ask Jesus to forgive us.”

Sherry L. Kuyt

How About You?

Do you do things that made you feel guilty in the past—but not anymore? You may have changed, but God’s standard of right and wrong never changes. The Holy Spirit will often use your conscience to convict you of sin. Whenever it bothers you, pay attention. Don’t let yourself become numb to sin. Confess your sin to Jesus and turn from it so you can have a clear conscience.

Today’s Key Verse:
Acts 24:16 I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and all people. (NLT)

Today’s Key Thought:

Don’t be numb to sin