God tells us to refuse to do wrong for anything in the world. It is better to have the whole world against us rather than have God against us. Whoever loses God, is losing more than the entire world. Whatever we love on earth is but a reflection of God’s goodness. If we fix our attention and interest only on worldly things or people, we will soon shut God out and lose His grace.
As soon as we become too interested in worldly pleasure and ease, our conscience starts to object. We are our own worst enemy when we act against our conscience. The wrong which we do becomes worse when we try to excuse ourselves or justify our actions.
No man can safely enjoy life except the man whose conscience is clear. The wicked never have true joy nor real interior peace. They may say that they have peace and that they neither expect nor fear any harm from above. Either they are lying or they are fools. God’s justice will suddenly strike them and put an end to their deeds.
A bad conscience is afraid and disturbed. A good conscience has peace even in time of hardship. The good man’s glory lies in the testimony of a good conscience. There is no true freedom nor profitable joy without a clear conscience and a holy fear of all sin. Blessed is the man whose eyes are on God and who keeps his earthly desires within God’s law. A good life follows God’s wisdom and brings a deeper appreciation of this earthly existence.
God made man intelligent enough to see that he should do what is right. And so the sinner knows that he is a sinner. He knows that his life is not going well. If he wants to cling to his sins, he will try to excuse himself in some way, but he cannot fool himself for long. Either he loses his peace of soul or he succeeds in dulling his conscience. The man with a dull conscience will find distractions and interests in many things, but he has no abiding peace like those who live for Heaven.
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