Common Sense Reborn

The Problem of Our Conscience

¹⁴So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. ¹⁵I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:14-17)

Happy weekend friends. I love my kids; they teach me so much about living and grace. Sure, they do test my patience from time to time, but that continues to help mold me into being a better father and leader in our household. Yesterday, I had a surprising example of the verses above.

It started at the bus stop as our small group of parents were awaiting the Elementary School bus to drop off our kiddos. Our next-door neighbor, whose son is a year younger than ours, asked myself and the mother of another of my son’s core group of friends, if we allowed our kids to bring their electronic devices to school on Friday’s. I scoffed at the thought. He laughed and said his son was trying to pull a fast one on him and say that kids were able to bring their Nintendo Switches to school to play on the bus. We talked about how that would be such a horrible idea, for a number of reasons. The mother stated that some classes do let kids bring a toy into school on Friday’s, but we all agreed something as distracting as a Nintendo Switch was out of the question.

Well, the bus arrived, and my son ran over to me. We had light conversation of how his day was as we meandered back to the house. As we came inside, I began to empty his backpack, taking out his lunchbox, then checking his folders and removing all his work for the day. As I went to put the folders back in his backpack, low-and-behold, tucked in the bottom of his backpack, was his Nintendo Switch. He was standing right next to me as this was all unfolding. I looked at him and I do not think the look of disappointment was well hidden because his demeanor instantly switched from jubilation to a healthy mix of fear and worry of the wrath that he thought he was about to face. My first thought was: how did he get out of the house with his Switch in the backpack to begin with? So, I asked the reasonable question: “Did your mother know you took your Switch to school?” I needed to sort out the details, to find out whether this may be allowed and, perhaps, I was just not keeping up with the times (if it was an acceptable practice at school, I was not going to permit it going forward). I watched closely as my son initially began to tell me a straight up lie, and then his conscience got the better of him, and he slowly shook his head “no”. Then he broke down sobbing and apologizing. The pouring out of shame and disappointment that came on his own accord, allowed me to instantly switch gears and not have to be the discipling Dad, but the comforter and the teacher. This prompted an unexpected, undeserved moment to talk about sin; doing what is right when we are tempted to do what we know is wrong; and listening to that little voice in our heads, that as Paul so elegantly states in the verse above, tries to steer us in the right direction.

My son knew that taking the Switch to school was the wrong thing to do. It goes against our house policy of no electronics during the week. It probably also goes against the school’s policy, and I am pretty sure he knew that. He snuck it in his backpack while his mother was busy getting three kids out the door to school. There was probably a mix of excitement and fear, as he gave into the temptation of sin, the thrill of if he was going to get caught doing what he wanted, even though he knew it was the wrong thing to do. I have not asked him this part yet, but I wonder if he worried about getting caught all day. I remembered my youth, when I snuck things to school I shouldn’t, but that came in my middle school years, and I will save that for a different day to share. For today, I just want to close this out by saying how grateful I was that God provided this opportunity to talk to my son about doing what is right when we are tempted to do what is wrong. We talked about listening to our conscience and thinking through the full scope of what we are doing: if our gut feeling is saying not to do something, why are we having those thoughts? Is what he was about to do against what his parents say? Is what he’s about to do against school rules? And I even made him think about the larger sense, as he grows older and is tempted by sin: Is what he is about to do against the laws of the land? And last, but surely not least: Is what he is doing against what God sees as righteous? I even almost dropped the “WWJD” question on him, but God slapped me on the back of the head and said “don’t you dare”.

The amount of shame my son felt getting caught was punishment enough for his transgression. I had to tell him repeatedly that he was not in trouble, there would be no grounding or loss of his access to his Switch, and we ended the evening with Family Fun Night, where my son came up with the idea of doing a “Round-Robin” activity night where we played UNO, had an art contest, and sang karaoke. It was our first full Family Fun Night since before I left almost a year ago.

My son’s actions allowed for me to demonstrate the mercy and forgiveness of our Heavenly Father. We all sin, and all of our sin is much worse than just sneaking a Nintendo Switch to school. Despite all our mistakes, God loves us and forgives us for everyone. When we repent, and this is the important part, when we repent, those sins are instantly washed away. Micah writes that they are thrown into the depth of the ocean and buried at sea (Micah 7:19). My son’s instant repentance allowed for me to give him grace and mercy as God gives us. And having that ability, felt so much better than having to scold him and punish him, which is what God wants from us. God wants us to know what is right and what is wrong (it is all laid out clearly in the Holy Bible). God wants us to live sinless lives, but He knows that is impossible. God knows that the devil is out there, attacking us each and every day. God knows this because He allows it, not as a way to test us over and over again, but I think in God’s eternal love, grace, and mercy, He has not destroyed the devil because God is hoping that even satan, the precious fallen angel, will one day come to the realization of what he is doing is wrong and seek forgiveness for his sins and finally bring true peace and tranquility to the world. If that does not happen, if you read the entire Holy Bible, you get to learn how it ends for the prince of darkness (it is not good).

I will close with this last thought. Nothing we can do earns us the grace of God. It is all because of His mercy that we are saved. We cannot earn salvation, it is given freely, but it all begins with repentance and the recognition of the sins we create in our lives. Our salvation is all because of mercy, not our own self-righteousness.