Conviction or preference?
“Whatever your conviction.”
“To each their own convictions.”
I cannot tell you how many times I have heard these comments between believers.
I, myself, decided to do some more digging on this topic and come to my own conclusions to see what God says about this. What He says about conviction.
Conviction is defined as a firm belief or opinion.
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As the body of Christ, being part of the same body and serving the same God, why are there so many different convictions amongst each other? I mean, hypothetically, if we all seek and serve the same God, shouldn’t we eventually come to the same convictions throughout out lives?
Well, first I decided to ask myself, “where does conviction even come from?”
…The Holy Spirit, right?
So, for starters, I started looking up if this statement was true as well as the purpose of the Holy Spirit. “What does the Word of God say? Isn’t He the One that convicts us of sin and points us to righteousness?”
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who provides from the Father, He will bear witness about me.” John 15:26.
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38.
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me concerning righteousness, because I go the Father, and you will see Me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” John 16:7-11.
We see from these passages that when Jesus left this earth, He gave us a gift: the Holy Spirit.
We also see that when someone receives Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, they also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is our: Helper, our Guide, the One who convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
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God asks us to live a life that is pleasing to Him. A life full of of holiness, purity, and righteousness.
Colossians 3:5, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”
Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Ephesians 5:8-10, “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 5:9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
Think about your typical lifestyle for a few moments. Your day-to-day activities. What do you usually do? From the moment you wake up to the moment you lay your head down… what consumes your mind? What do you consume your time with? Now ask yourself: do these things glorify God? Literally take each thing, one at a time and ask God what He thinks. Not what you think or what you prefer.
Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, do it whole heartedly as unto the Lord and not unto men.”
Have you asked the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the things that you need to rid of, in order to become more like Jesus? When was the last time you sat with the Father, just you and Him and talked to Him? Asked Him if you had any sin in your life?
As humans, we so easily find ways to twist the Word of God, or twist the things that we do, in order to make it seem like it is okay to live the way that we do; with the lifestyles that we do. As if, we are just trying to ‘get by’ and make it into Heaven. When in the end, God has asks us many times to cut out certain things from our lives, yet we choose to ignore anything that might make us uncomfortable with our life choices.
It is as if we become numb to the Holy Spirit in certain areas of our lives.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to shut out the Spirit. Ever. I do not want to numb out the Spirit in any area of my life. I want Him to speak to me so clearly when I need to rid of sin in my life because I know that as a believer, I am called to not sin any longer.
“Do not quench the Spirit,” 1 Thessalonians 5:19.
“So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to – the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.” Ephesians 4:22-24.
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The devil is so good at disguising himself as an angel of light, where oftentimes I believe he blinds us to what God actually wants to say to us.
2 Corinthians 11:14, “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”
When someone asks you why you live a certain way, or act a certain way or why you have a certain conviction… do you know why? Or do you just do it because that is what you have been taught at some point?
My question to you: are you living as a result of tradition or things you have been taught? Or are you living as a result of your intimacy with the Father, by reading His Word and asking Him yourself about what He knows is righteous and pure and holy, like Him?
Are you living a life based on convictions or just your own preferences?
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Back to the start of this blog.
Why do we, as the body of Christ, have such different convictions?
I believe the more important question is: are you living a life fully aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence and listening to Him guide you, or are you living a life out of your own preferences, ignoring the Spirit’s voice and call over your life?
**These are just a few thoughts to get your mind stirring and thinking… I strongly encourage you to press into your beliefs and your lifestyle choices, checking if they align with the Word of God, and asking God Himself what truth He stands for.
Soli Deo Gloria
