Conscience

Bible reference: Matthew 14:1-13 

Our conscience 

In this passage of the Bible, the Holy Spirit gave us an account of King Herod's guilty conscience when he heard about the miracles of the Lord Jesus. He thought the Lord was the resurrected John the Baptist which he beheaded.  

King Herod killed John the Baptist when he was celebrating his birthday. On that occasion, his daughter danced for the King and his ministers. He was so pleased with the dancing that he made a carte blanche offer to his daughter as a reward. When his daughter consulted Herodias (her mother) on what she should answer the King, her mother ordered her to ask for the head of John the Baptist.

John was imprisoned during that time because he rebuked King Herod for taking Herodias, his brother's wife. When Herod heard the request, he was sorry for making such an offer to his daughter. Although wicked, he did not wish to sin in this manner. He could not retract his statement because all his ministers were there when he made the offer to his daughter. Reluctantly, he had John beheaded. His head was brought to the party on a plate as a present for the daughter's wonderful dance! 

The wickedness of people knows no bounds. Herodias, the wife of King Herod, obviously was a revengeful person. She was seething with anger when John rebuked Herod and her for their adulterous relationship. Clearly, in her mind, King Herod's punishment for imprisoning John was too lenient for him, and she was ever looking for opportunities to murder him. As soon as there was an opportunity, she asked her daughter to demand the head of John.  

Oxford Dictionary defines conscience as 'the part of your mind that tells you whether your actions are right or wrong'. The account of King Herod's statement that John was resurrected reminds us that He felt some remorse for his action. In Matt 14:9, he was sorry for the order to execute John. We can surmise he had a bad conscience about this event and never felt good over the gory incident. 

Beyond Herod's bad conscience is Herodias's seared conscience. When the human conscience is seared, they do not feel remorse whenever they do wrong. This is the worst state a person can fall into. Unfortunately, people who have a seared conscience do not realise their pitiful condition. In I Tim 4:2, those with a seared conscience have no qualms over speaking lies, embracing doctrines of devils and being subjected to seducing spirits. 

Herodias shows us the behaviour of someone with a seared conscience. She refused to admit her mistake of adultery with Herod when rebuked by John the Baptist, a prophet of God. Instead of being remorseful, she was always looking for the opportunity to silence John. When presented with the chance, she demanded to have John's head on a plate.  

John the Baptist has a good conscience. People may view him as a criminal, imprisoned and beheaded – but he lived a good life. He sided with righteousness even at the expense of his own personal peril. God gives everyone a conscience, and one must exercise good conscience towards those with whom we have a relationship. Some people are cautious about maintaining a good conscience with others. They would go to great lengths to repay some good deeds done to them by their friends.

Sadly, many forget to maintain a good conscience with God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God in the flesh. He came to offer forgiveness of our sins to everyone by offering Himself as a sin offering when He was crucified at the cross. Despite this act of supreme grace to us, many ignore Him and some even ridicule Him as a foolish person, as forgiveness, in their view, is easily available to everyone without any sacrifice.

 

The Apostle Paul fully understands the importance of maintaining a good conscience before God.  In Acts 24:16, during his defence before the false accusations of the high priest, he declared that he had a pure conscience toward God and men. When our car breaks down, and someone offers a free ride, we are ever ready to repay the favour.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God in the flesh. He came to offer forgiveness of our sins by offering Himself as a sin offering when He was crucified at the cross. This gracious deed of offering His life for our salvation was done by Him through His own volition.

Despite this act of supreme grace to everyone in the world, many ignore Him and some even ridicule Him as a foolish person to die on the cross.  What will one’s conscience be when a person takes an apathetic stance or, even worse, a mocking response to it? Does this attitude give you a good conscience towards God? 

Clearly, we bring nothing into the world and cannot bring anything physical out. Therefore, we can only bring spiritual possessions when we die. Our conscience towards God and our human relationships are spiritual things. I’d like to exhort everyone to possess a good conscience amongst humankind and a pure conscience before our Saviour God, who died to give us eternal life.  

John 1:10-13

He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 

2 Cor 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.  

With God's blessings, 

CL