The WOFOYO Podcast
The WOFOYO Podcast
WOFOYO SHORT: Clear Conscience, True Obedience
A courtroom scene in Jerusalem turns into a masterclass on the inner life. Paul stands before the Sanhedrin, gets ordered to be struck, and still claims a good conscience before God. That tension—between messy circumstances, a messy past, and inner clarity—drives a candid talk about grace, duty, and the voice inside your chest.
We break down why grace isn’t an excuse to coast but the power to obey when the mission is inconvenient. From unwanted family obligations to misunderstood motives, we share how doing the right thing often feels costly—and how grace steadies the choice. Along the way we examine the difference between conscience and the Holy Spirit. Conscience is part of the soul and can be overtrained by culture, tradition, or “Catholic guilt,” while the Spirit is God who trains us through Scripture, conviction, and comfort. That distinction matters when your heart condemns you for things God hasn’t, or stays quiet when you need a holy nudge.
Rooted in Acts 23 and supported by passages like Acts 24:16, 1 Timothy 1:5 and 3:9, 2 Timothy 1:3, Hebrews 13:18, and 1 John 3, we outline a practical path to a clear conscience before God and people: saturate your mind in the Word, listen for the Spirit, confess quickly, make amends, and choose love that acts. Expect friction as you grow. A healthy conscience is alert but not anxious, quiet but not numb, humble enough to admit a miss and strong enough to stand when pressure rises.
If this conversation helps you untangle false guilt and rediscover the courage to obey, share it with a friend who needs the same boost.
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Everybody, welcome to another Woe Foyo Short. This is C Dub. Acts 23, verse 1. So Paul has been called in front of the Sanhedrin. He's been seized in the temple. They done snitched him out that Paul's in there. So they take him before the Sanhedrin. 23 1. And looking intently at the council, Paul said, Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. And the high priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge me according to the law? And yet, contrary to the law, you order me to be struck? And those who stood by said, Would you revile God's high priest? And Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. Paul said, I've I've tried to live my life with a good conscience before God. And men. Which is saying something. This is a testimony to the grace of Jesus Christ that he can say that because you know from his other writings that this thing followed him, what he used to do. But he's able to say as things are getting ready to escalate, and this is the chain of events that send him to Rome, which Jesus has told him is going to eventually happen. These things that this is the spark that ignites the fuse right here. It's him being seized in the temple. And he says, you know, I've lived my life with a good conscience, ordered him to be struck. So I want to talk to you all about our conscience. And I'm not going to lie, you know, I talk quite a bit on our full episodes where I'm discussing things with bones. Talk about the value of that some of the things I got to see growing up in the Catholic Church, even though there's some theological differences that I have. Still have a lot of respect. But let me tell you one thing about it. There is this thing called Catholic guilt. Don't get me wrong. And don't get me wrong, because one of the things we don't talk about a lot when we start talking about grace is grace does not negate your duty to obey God. I know there's a lot of people going, grace, grace, grace. Yes, amen, grace. But grace comes with responsibility. We are to be obedient to the Holy Spirit. Grace is there to cover things, but grace is also there to empower us to be obedient, to stay on mission. That means there has to be a mission. Guess what? You don't always like the mission. I was just recently on the phone with a family member and wasn't happy about it, to be quite honest, because sometimes you get volunteered for things. And sometimes people take one statement and they read more into it than you volunteered for. But guess what? Bottom line is the right thing to do is the right thing to do, so we're going to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. Guess what? You don't have to like it, but it's the right thing to do. Therefore, it is my Christian duty to do those things. Doesn't mean you have to like it, but I know the grace of God is going to be on it.
SPEAKER_01:Bottom line. So let's talk about your conscience.
SPEAKER_00:Can your conscience be trained to be overly sensitive to where you automatically feel guilt? I just said yes, because if you've never had a German Catholic grandmother, you you don't know what a guilt trip is. About the only one that I've ever heard that's that's even comparable. I've heard some of the Adam Sandler cultural references about the about the Jewish mother, and it sounds like a whole lot of whole lot of the same. So Paul again testifying in Acts 24 16 says, I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. Couple other verses talking about conscience. 1 Timothy 1 5. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 1 Timothy 3 9. They must hold the mystery of faith with a clear conscience. Second Timothy 1 3, I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers day and night. Hebrews 13 18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.
SPEAKER_01:What we need to be careful about is the conscience is soulish.
SPEAKER_00:Now, don't confuse your conscience with the Holy Spirit. However, they are close, they are closely related. However, the Spirit, you're not going to train the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is going to train you. First John Chapter 3. Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. Let's go on to verse 22. And whatever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us. So here's a way to keep your conscience in check, too, though, because you should definitely pay attention to it. But you also need to develop that relationship with the Holy Spirit, because your conscience can be trained to be overly sensitive to where you're walking around feeling guilty about everything when you haven't done things wrong. Been there, done that. I'm talking from experience. And that is proper alignment.
SPEAKER_01:So make sure that you're serving God with a clear conscience.
SPEAKER_00:But in order to do that, let us make sure that we are training our conscience by the word and by the Holy Spirit so that it is testifying accurately to us. Woe FOYO. Everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at woefoyo.org, find out how to contact us there, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. For Bones and Myself, this is C Dub reminding you that if you're going to grow, you got a Woefo Yo. Get in the word for yourself.