A Clear Conscience

1 Peter 3:13-17

Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. (1 Peter 3:16)

WHEN MARTIN LUTHER STOOD before Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1521 to defend his views rather than recant them, he calmly appealed to reason, the testimony of Scripture, and the certainty of his own convictions. “Here I stand,” he allegedly said. “I can do no other.” He refused to act against his own conscience.

Luther wasn’t perfect, of course. Some of his habits and prejudices seem awfully out of place, especially to modern eyes. But no one can argue that he didn’t live out his convictions. Even his detractors, then and now, have admired his resolute insistence on the truths he believed. A clear conscience is a powerful testimony, even when people disagree with one’s position.

Peter urged his readers not only to have strong convictions, but also to back up their stance with an admirable way of life. He knew the kinds of accusations people threw at followers of Jesus. Sometimes those accusations were absurd: that the Christians’ love feasts were actually orgies where cannibalism (consuming the “body” and “blood” of the Lord’s Supper) was routinely practiced. Other accusations were more realistic from a pagan point of view: that Christians’ refusal to make sacrifices for the emperor would put the community under divine and temporal judgment. In any case, Peter’s antidote to disfavor was to live favorably—to make the accusations incongruent by living so blamelessly that people would have a hard time thinking negatively about them. Dirt doesn’t stick to smooth surfaces very well.

Make your life a smooth surface. You won’t be able to live flawlessly—no one can—but you can live with an attitude and lifestyle that wins the favor of those around you. If you are still mistreated, you will know it’s because of the gospel’s offensiveness, not yours. And many others will know it too. Your life will reflect the goodness of a mistreated Savior and open eyes to who Jesus really is.

{Jesus, you demonstrated the power of a spotless life—and also the reactions it can entail. Give me a clean conscience, the courage to live by my convictions, and the strength to endure any backlash. Let me live with integrity and grace. Amen.