Copyright © 2011 Grace Family Church of Rhode Island

A child wants a cookie, but turns away from the cookie jar because he remembers what happened the last time he took one without asking. A teenager comes home five minutes before curfew because she doesn't want to be grounded for coming home late. Taxpayers make sure they declare all their income because they don't want to pay any penalties if they are audited. The fear of consequences keeps many from wrongdoing.

Some don't care, however, believing what they do doesn't matter or they won't get caught. We've all heard people say what they are doing doesn't hurt anyone, so what's the big deal?

Still others do the right thing just because it is the right thing. What causes some to have a well-developed conscience while others seem not to care about the consequences of anything they do or don't do? Where does integrity come from?

In Romans 2, Paul talks about Jews and gentiles and their respective relationship to the law. The Jews had the law of Moses to guide them, but Paul says some gentiles, who didn't have the law, did by nature what the law required. When they did, they were a law for themselves (verses 14-17). They acted according to their conscience. Frank E. Gaebelein in The Expositor's Bible Commentary calls the conscience a "God-given monitor." This makes sense, as without a conscience or monitor, we would act as animals, according to instinct (which is also from God, but supplies no knowledge of right or wrong).

As a child, when I misbehaved, my parents made sure I understood what I did, and that I also experienced the appropriate feelings of guilt. Guilt helped hone my conscience. To this day, when I do something wrong or evencontemplate a wrong act or thought, I experience pangs of conscience and try to listen and then correct the problem.

It seems some parents don't use guilt as a teacher these days. It's not pc. Guilt isn't healthy. It harms a child's self-esteem. Granted, the wrong kind of guilt can be harmful. But proper correction, teaching in right and wrong and healthy pangs of conscience are what children need to become adults of integrity.

Every culture in the world recognizes some kind of right and wrong and administers punishment for breaking the laws of the land. It's sad, even heartbreaking, to see the breakdown of integrity and the atrophy of the consciences of many.

The only remedy is the Holy Spirit. Integrity comes from God. A guiding, heightened sense of conscience comes from listening to the Holy Spirit and being led by him. Our children need to be taught right from wrong and how to listen to their God-given consciences. We must all learn to listen, not to the proverbial devil on one shoulder, but to the angel on the other. God has given us this built-in monitor to help us live lives of integrity and to get along with each other.

How's your conscience - honed to a fine point or dull from lack of use? Let's pray the Holy Spirit will sharpen our sense of right and wrong so we may live lives of integrity.