Acts 24:9-21: a reflection

9The Jews also joined in the attack, affirming that these things were so. 10When the governor had beckoned to him to speak, Paul answered, “Because I know that you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I cheerfully make my defense, 11seeing that you can verify that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship at Jerusalem. 12In the temple they didn’t find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city. 13Nor can they prove to you the things of which they now accuse me. 14But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, so I serve the God of our fathers, believing all things which are according to the law, and which are written in the prophets; 15having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 16In this I also practice always having a conscience void of offense toward God and men. 17Now after some years, I came to bring gifts for the needy to my nation, and offerings; 18amid which certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, not with a mob, nor with turmoil. 19They ought to have been here before you and to make accusation if they had anything against me. 20Or else let these men themselves say what injustice they found in me when I stood before the council, 21unless it is for this one thing that I cried standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged before you today!’”

Standing trial before the governor Felix, accused by his opponents, Paul makes his defense. He answers the charges point by point, but in the middle of his defense he says something revealing about how he had tried to live: In this I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and men. Even under accusation, Paul could appeal to the way he had lived, a life he had taken pains to keep clear before God and people alike, so that the charges against him could not be proven.

Notice Paul's aim: a conscience without offense toward both God and people. He had made it his practice, taken pains, to live in such a way that his conscience was clear, that he had wronged neither God nor others. This was not something that happened by accident; it took deliberate care, an ongoing effort to live with integrity. And it gave him something solid to stand on when he was accused: a life that could bear examination.

That is a worthy aim for us as well. To keep a clear conscience toward God and people, to live so that we have wronged neither, takes deliberate, ongoing care, taking pains, as Paul said. But it is worth the effort. A clear conscience is a quiet possession that gives peace when we are misjudged, and steadiness when we are accused; the one who has taken pains to do right has something to stand on. Take pains, as Paul did, to keep your conscience clear before God and others. Deal honestly, wrong no one, keep short accounts, so that whatever others may say of you, your conscience is clear before God. It is a peace worth the care it costs.

Lord, standing trial, Paul could say that he always took pains to keep a clear conscience toward both God and men. Give me that same aim. Help me make it my practice, taking deliberate and ongoing care, to live in such a way that I wrong neither you nor others, and that my conscience is clear. Keep me from letting integrity slip through carelessness; help me deal honestly, wrong no one, and keep short accounts. And thank you that a clear conscience is a quiet possession that gives peace when I am misjudged, and steadiness when I am accused. When others speak against me, let me have, as Paul did, a life that can bear examination and a conscience clear before you. Help me take pains to do right, that whatever others may say, I may stand with a clear conscience before you.