DEVELOPING CONVICTIONS
How does one develop the deep convictions necessary to walk out the Christian life in simplicity and victory? Do we just one day choose to “believe” or “trust God” – and there they are? Or must they be formed in us through a process? The dictionary defines conviction as “the state of being convinced.” In II Timothy 3:14 Paul tells Timothy, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, (NIV). Interesting statement – continue in what you have become convinced of. It makes perfect, practical sense. As you go through life you will continue in what you are convinced of – what you believe is best for you at that moment.
My objective in the men’s Bible Study I lead is to allow the Spirit of God to form convictions in their lives, not just give them head knowledge of Scripture. They may have learned something about patience in the study but ten minutes after it is over, they may express something different from their heart of hearts when someone cuts them off on the road. Their heart reveals it is still convinced of something else. This is the true work of redemption – changing the convictions in the heart so the resulting actions on the surface align with the heart of God. It is not something we can do for others. It is something the Spirit must do in them. We can demonstrate it and facilitate it, but the Spirit must form it in their heart – they must be convinced personally. God is a jealous God and reserves that to Himself. It is a form of intimacy He desires to share with His children.
In Romans 8:38,39 Paul again uses the word convinced; “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NIV). If we consider what Paul has gone through in terms of stonings, shipwrecks, etc., I am sure he has become convinced and developed some deep convictions. How did Paul become convinced? It was through experience. It implies a process of becoming convinced, not just a simple statement of “trust God”. You trust what you are convinced is worthy of your trust. The question then becomes, how do I become convinced? I may practice Christian principles on the outside, but I may not be convinced in the depths of my heart. God is all about the heart so I am sure He has a way for us to become convinced in the depths of our hearts. He wants our lives to produce real fruit from the heart, not just plastic, superficial fruit on the surface.
I imagine with Paul’s background as a Hebrew Pharisee, that God had a lot of work to do in convincing Him that much of what he had learned was not true. Sure, God got his attention by knocking him off the horse, but after that is where the real work began. In Galatians, Paul says he went immediately to Arabia. I believe that is where Jesus and Paul had some knockdown, drag out fights to convince Paul of the truth of the gospel. God met Paul where he was and graciously took him to where he needed to be. He reasoned with him and convinced him. This is demonstrated in what Jesus said to Paul when He knocked him off his horse. Did Jesus give him a command and say, “Saul, stop persecuting Me and get your act together?” He certainly could have, He IS God you know. But he didn’t. So how did He go about it? He said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” There are three unique things here about “how” Jesus did this that reveal His heart for us and how He wishes to deal with us in our human frailty to form new convictions in us.
One, He engaged Saul with a question, not a command. It seems God wanted to open up a path of dialogue with Saul. Even though He was God, it wasn’t going to be a one-way conversation. He didn’t say, “Just trust me”. He was reaching out to him. It is like He says in Isaiah, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord…”. Jesus did not judge him or just issue a command to obey or tell Saul to come forth with some new outward action such as trusting God. He made an overture to reason with Saul. He valued and believed in Saul enough to reason with him about his motives, intentions and desires of his heart – for He knows that is where convictions form. But He goes further.
Two, He said Saul’s name twice. In those days saying someone’s name twice is a term of endearment similar to when He said, “Martha, Martha…” in Luke 10. So here Saul is out on a path to persecute and destroy the church and God cries out to Him mercifully and compassionately in an endearing manner, not judgmentally or critically. Apparently God loves him and wants to initiate endearing Saul’s heart to Himself. He is opening up and extending Himself to interact with Saul. What a gentle, beautiful approach – to someone who is persecuting Him! He is drawing Saul to Himself in the manner in which He approaches Him.
Three, He says “why do you…”. He looks not at what Saul is doing but at “why” he is doing it. God wishes to go to the true heart of the issue, not just deal with the external symptoms. He deeply values the heart of His people for that is where relationship, intimacy and convictions form. Religion may dwell in the outward actions, but relationship dwells in the heart. Even though Saul’s actions are harmful, God is taking initiative to look past the actions to deal with his heart. He cares enough to go directly to the motives, intentions and desires of his heart. God knows the actions aren’t where the true problem lies. The actions are just the results, or fruit of the motives, intentions and desires. The real problem is down in the roots – in the heart. Dealing with the results would be just like putting a band-aid on the wound and not dealing with the infection festering underneath. The true problem lies in the heart. That is where Jesus desires to meet Him.
So, being sinners, our convictions may be rooted in sinful motives, intentions and desires. So how does Jesus deal with us? Does He approach us by being judgmental, demanding and distant because of our sinfulness? No. For one, we see that God respects us, desires to engage us in relationship and reason with us about the deep issues in our lives that drive us, not just issue commands or judgment. He is not legalistic about results but gracious in the process of wanting to come alongside to help walk us out of our problems. He knows we are fragile like a bent reed or a flickering flame, as well as scared and stubborn. Two, He is intimately desirous of drawing our heart out to Him, “Saul, Saul…”. He approaches us in an intimate manner and opens Himself up to restore intimacy with us in the very process of dealing with our sinfulness. Apparently He is not in the least put off by our sinfulness but goes right past it to redeem us and restore the fact that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” in His image. And, three, He is concerned about true heart change (roots) rather than just outward action change (fruits), the “why…” do we do these things. He wants to set the heart free so the actions will be able to show wholehearted evidence of this new freedom. In light of this, He wants to reason with us to form new convictions in our hearts. These are the actions of a gracious, loving Father reaching out to his children who have gone astray – prodigal children. He looks past their actions and extends Himself to delight in them and redeem their heart. This is how the process of redemption takes root and forms in us.
As God says in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (NIV). He graciously reaches out and invites us to reason together with Him so deep, redemptive transformation can take place in our hearts. He is willing to work with what is there – to take our motives, intentions and desires from being like scarlet to being as white as snow. Notice in both examples given in that verse, He says they “shall be”. Something “shall” happen over time to make this transformation form in us. It will be a process of reasoning together with Abba, our Father. He will graciously receive all our frustrations and the lies that Satan has deceived us with, sort through them with us, and reveal to us the glory of who we really are in His image. We will be continually awestruck as Christ in you, the hope of glory forms in more and more areas of our lives.
As He begins to explore all these hidden areas with us, delighting in us every step of the way, taking the time to gently and patiently reason with us, what happens? We find ourselves drawn to Him. The manner in which He relates to us becomes attractive and overwhelming. We begin to find Him irresistible and we begin to fall in love with Him. Our heart begins to rest in Him more and more. We begin to trust Him deep in our hearts. We learn to be still and allow Him to be God in more and more areas of our lives. We gradually become convinced of the truth of what He says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV). The Almighty God of the whole Universe actually takes the time to reason with us personally to convince us of His plans for us – in the very midst of our frailties. Who are we that He should do this? Our hearts become humble and contrite before Him as He continually reaches out to us, transforming areas we previously thought we had to hide from Him. Rather than standing above us telling us to clean up our act and walk out of the muck and mire of sin, He comes down into the muck and mire and reasons with us, walking us out of it.
This is how God would like to build convictions in our hearts. It’s not just a simple command to “trust God”. It is a process. It is a deep, intimate, ongoing, engaging relationship forming with the Author and Lover of our souls as He meets us in the muck and mire and walks us out of it putting our feet upon a rock. He is eagerly willing to reason with, delight in and convince us through the intimate outreach of His love. Our convictions will form as He gradually sets our feet upon the Rock of Christ. And in reality…the convictions will take second place compared to the intimate love that forms in our hearts with Him as He graciously transforms us in His love.
My objective in the men’s Bible Study I lead is to allow the Spirit of God to form convictions in their lives, not just give them head knowledge of Scripture. They may have learned something about patience in the study but ten minutes after it is over, they may express something different from their heart of hearts when someone cuts them off on the road. Their heart reveals it is still convinced of something else. This is the true work of redemption – changing the convictions in the heart so the resulting actions on the surface align with the heart of God. It is not something we can do for others. It is something the Spirit must do in them. We can demonstrate it and facilitate it, but the Spirit must form it in their heart – they must be convinced personally. God is a jealous God and reserves that to Himself. It is a form of intimacy He desires to share with His children.
In Romans 8:38,39 Paul again uses the word convinced; “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NIV). If we consider what Paul has gone through in terms of stonings, shipwrecks, etc., I am sure he has become convinced and developed some deep convictions. How did Paul become convinced? It was through experience. It implies a process of becoming convinced, not just a simple statement of “trust God”. You trust what you are convinced is worthy of your trust. The question then becomes, how do I become convinced? I may practice Christian principles on the outside, but I may not be convinced in the depths of my heart. God is all about the heart so I am sure He has a way for us to become convinced in the depths of our hearts. He wants our lives to produce real fruit from the heart, not just plastic, superficial fruit on the surface.
I imagine with Paul’s background as a Hebrew Pharisee, that God had a lot of work to do in convincing Him that much of what he had learned was not true. Sure, God got his attention by knocking him off the horse, but after that is where the real work began. In Galatians, Paul says he went immediately to Arabia. I believe that is where Jesus and Paul had some knockdown, drag out fights to convince Paul of the truth of the gospel. God met Paul where he was and graciously took him to where he needed to be. He reasoned with him and convinced him. This is demonstrated in what Jesus said to Paul when He knocked him off his horse. Did Jesus give him a command and say, “Saul, stop persecuting Me and get your act together?” He certainly could have, He IS God you know. But he didn’t. So how did He go about it? He said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” There are three unique things here about “how” Jesus did this that reveal His heart for us and how He wishes to deal with us in our human frailty to form new convictions in us.
One, He engaged Saul with a question, not a command. It seems God wanted to open up a path of dialogue with Saul. Even though He was God, it wasn’t going to be a one-way conversation. He didn’t say, “Just trust me”. He was reaching out to him. It is like He says in Isaiah, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord…”. Jesus did not judge him or just issue a command to obey or tell Saul to come forth with some new outward action such as trusting God. He made an overture to reason with Saul. He valued and believed in Saul enough to reason with him about his motives, intentions and desires of his heart – for He knows that is where convictions form. But He goes further.
Two, He said Saul’s name twice. In those days saying someone’s name twice is a term of endearment similar to when He said, “Martha, Martha…” in Luke 10. So here Saul is out on a path to persecute and destroy the church and God cries out to Him mercifully and compassionately in an endearing manner, not judgmentally or critically. Apparently God loves him and wants to initiate endearing Saul’s heart to Himself. He is opening up and extending Himself to interact with Saul. What a gentle, beautiful approach – to someone who is persecuting Him! He is drawing Saul to Himself in the manner in which He approaches Him.
Three, He says “why do you…”. He looks not at what Saul is doing but at “why” he is doing it. God wishes to go to the true heart of the issue, not just deal with the external symptoms. He deeply values the heart of His people for that is where relationship, intimacy and convictions form. Religion may dwell in the outward actions, but relationship dwells in the heart. Even though Saul’s actions are harmful, God is taking initiative to look past the actions to deal with his heart. He cares enough to go directly to the motives, intentions and desires of his heart. God knows the actions aren’t where the true problem lies. The actions are just the results, or fruit of the motives, intentions and desires. The real problem is down in the roots – in the heart. Dealing with the results would be just like putting a band-aid on the wound and not dealing with the infection festering underneath. The true problem lies in the heart. That is where Jesus desires to meet Him.
So, being sinners, our convictions may be rooted in sinful motives, intentions and desires. So how does Jesus deal with us? Does He approach us by being judgmental, demanding and distant because of our sinfulness? No. For one, we see that God respects us, desires to engage us in relationship and reason with us about the deep issues in our lives that drive us, not just issue commands or judgment. He is not legalistic about results but gracious in the process of wanting to come alongside to help walk us out of our problems. He knows we are fragile like a bent reed or a flickering flame, as well as scared and stubborn. Two, He is intimately desirous of drawing our heart out to Him, “Saul, Saul…”. He approaches us in an intimate manner and opens Himself up to restore intimacy with us in the very process of dealing with our sinfulness. Apparently He is not in the least put off by our sinfulness but goes right past it to redeem us and restore the fact that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” in His image. And, three, He is concerned about true heart change (roots) rather than just outward action change (fruits), the “why…” do we do these things. He wants to set the heart free so the actions will be able to show wholehearted evidence of this new freedom. In light of this, He wants to reason with us to form new convictions in our hearts. These are the actions of a gracious, loving Father reaching out to his children who have gone astray – prodigal children. He looks past their actions and extends Himself to delight in them and redeem their heart. This is how the process of redemption takes root and forms in us.
As God says in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (NIV). He graciously reaches out and invites us to reason together with Him so deep, redemptive transformation can take place in our hearts. He is willing to work with what is there – to take our motives, intentions and desires from being like scarlet to being as white as snow. Notice in both examples given in that verse, He says they “shall be”. Something “shall” happen over time to make this transformation form in us. It will be a process of reasoning together with Abba, our Father. He will graciously receive all our frustrations and the lies that Satan has deceived us with, sort through them with us, and reveal to us the glory of who we really are in His image. We will be continually awestruck as Christ in you, the hope of glory forms in more and more areas of our lives.
As He begins to explore all these hidden areas with us, delighting in us every step of the way, taking the time to gently and patiently reason with us, what happens? We find ourselves drawn to Him. The manner in which He relates to us becomes attractive and overwhelming. We begin to find Him irresistible and we begin to fall in love with Him. Our heart begins to rest in Him more and more. We begin to trust Him deep in our hearts. We learn to be still and allow Him to be God in more and more areas of our lives. We gradually become convinced of the truth of what He says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV). The Almighty God of the whole Universe actually takes the time to reason with us personally to convince us of His plans for us – in the very midst of our frailties. Who are we that He should do this? Our hearts become humble and contrite before Him as He continually reaches out to us, transforming areas we previously thought we had to hide from Him. Rather than standing above us telling us to clean up our act and walk out of the muck and mire of sin, He comes down into the muck and mire and reasons with us, walking us out of it.
This is how God would like to build convictions in our hearts. It’s not just a simple command to “trust God”. It is a process. It is a deep, intimate, ongoing, engaging relationship forming with the Author and Lover of our souls as He meets us in the muck and mire and walks us out of it putting our feet upon a rock. He is eagerly willing to reason with, delight in and convince us through the intimate outreach of His love. Our convictions will form as He gradually sets our feet upon the Rock of Christ. And in reality…the convictions will take second place compared to the intimate love that forms in our hearts with Him as He graciously transforms us in His love.