Having a grandchild now makes me think about when my own kids were younger and the things we would do with them. One of the things we did was watch Disney movies. We watched the classics plus many of the newer ones of their day like Mulan and The Lion King.

Disney has become one of the largest influencers of our culture. There are a lot of interesting quotes and songs that have become a part of our everyday vernacular. How many of us are tired of hearing, “Let it Go?”

One not so common one, but I think extremely profound, is from a small insect. It goes like this, “What’s a conscience? I’ll tell ya! A conscience is that still small voice that people won’t listen to. That’s just the trouble with the world today…” If you didn’t recognize it, it was from the character, Jiminy Cricket, from the movie, “Pinocchio”

I don’t think we need a theological, psychological, or philosophical degree to tell us why it is important to have a good conscience. We all know that small voice. In the Disney children’s movie about Pinocchio, it was embodied in a small nagging insect named “Jiminy Cricket.” It’s that inward judge that monitors and that lives inside each of us. When we have done wrong it accuses us; when we have done well it approves of us.

Born into every person is that inner sense that says, “This is wrong” or, “This is right.” John’s Gospel tells us there is a true light that lights every man (John 1:9). Thank God for this precious gift of conscience.

But conscience is a judge, not a slave master. I say that because conscience can’t make me do right; it only approves of me when I do right. It can’t keep me from doing wrong, it can only judge me when I do wrong.

Do you remember when King David sinned with Bathsheba? He wrote in Psalm 51:1,3, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions . . . my sin is ever before me” That is conscience at work.

Wherever David looked, he saw the shadow of his sin lurking. When someone came in with a report, he worried, “What’s in that report?” When he saw two men whispering in the palace, he was disturbed, “I wonder what they are whispering about?” I think he must have had very little sleep fearing, “I wonder who knows? I wonder who is talking about me?”

The apostle Paul spoke so often about the conscience. What is a good conscience? It is a conscience that is informed by the Word of God, directed by the Spirit of God. It is like the windows in a house that let the light in. By it we see ourselves, others, and life clearly. That is a good conscience.

But the Bible tells us there are other kinds of conscience, such as the defiled conscience Titus 1:15: “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.”

If the conscience is like a window that lets in the light of God’s truth, we can make that window so dirty that less and less light comes in. How do we know if our conscience is defiled?

One simple test is to think about things that we are doing and saying and thinking today. Would we have been ashamed of them six months ago, a year ago? If so, then you may have a defiled conscience. That is why when people say, “My conscience doesn’t bother me,” it very well may be they are perfectly in the clear, or it may also mean that their conscience isn’t as tender as it was at one time.

Then there is something the apostle Paul called a seared conscience in 1 Timothy 4:2: “Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. ”

I don’t know if any of you have ever experienced being burned before? I can remember the stories on the news of people suing (and winning) McDonald’s because they spilled the coffee on themselves and got burnt. Those kinds of burns, first and second degree are very painful. They tell us there is an injury that needs attention.

However, it is the more serious burns, third degree burns that are more dangerous. They are when the nerve endings are damaged and the burns don’t really hurt. Infections and other things can set in causing bigger problems down the road.

We can defile our conscience by searing it so that it doesn’t warn us anymore.
But it can get worse than that. Hebrews 10:22 talks about an evil conscience. It says, ” let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

An evil conscience is a conscience that not only doesn’t function as it was meant to, but it is one that will approve what is wrong and disapprove of what is right. This describes a person who has ignored and fought their conscience and conditioned it by habit and repetition so that it functions opposite of how it is meant to function. You can go from a good conscience to a defiled conscience to a seared conscience to an evil conscience.

So what do I do if I find I don’t have a clear conscience? What if my conscience doesn’t convict me? What if it is full of “shoulds” and “oughts” and “shall nots”?
Then I would suggest you run to Jesus Christ.

And here is the amazing promise from Hebrews 10:22. It tells us that even an evil conscience can be cleansed. God is able to not only cleanse our conscience but also help us to re-sensitize our damaged conscience!

I can remember my father always asking me if he would be welcome in any church I pastored or attended. I told him, “of course.” You see, my father did a lot of crazy things in his life, many of which were not good. He thought that he was beyond help. He thought that he was beyond acceptance. Sadly, he was wrong and never did accept what God had to offer.

But because of the cleansing power of the cross,our sins can be forgiven. Our conscience can be cleansed and through the regeneration of God’s Spirit.
In essence, we can become an altogether different person. We have watched the transforming work in people’s lives as they study God’s Word, pray, and remain in fellowship with like-minded friends.

Though sociologists may say there is little hope of change because you are the product of your genetics, or your upbringing and environment (there are those factors that do contribute partly to who we become), the Bible also teaches that it is possible for a person to be transformed—for the compass needle to point true north again, for the weights to be balanced and set right, and for the conscience to go to work!

We have God’s Word and promise on this. Just read the testimonies of sinners who encountered Christ in the Gospels! Guilt can be atoned for, and a new life can begin each time we come humbly to the cross. A good conscience is one that works because it is daily being informed by the Word of God and guided by the Holy Spirit of God!

Ezekiel 36:26 says this: ” I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Change is possible, but it is only through the power of God Himself.