Yeah, Where HAVE I been? I’m not quite sure… It seems like the first month of 2016 has disappeared in the blink of an eye. Am I losing my mind? Ha!
My last post was on January 1, explaining that I was going to cut back just a bit on my posting this year, but I certainly didn’t plan to go a whole month without posting anything.
Instead of posting, I ended up spending a lot of time catching up on some relationship-building, especially with one good friend who was back in the States for the month. I will say that it was quite nice to be off of social media for the month. I think breaks like that can be quite healthy as we change up our routines and get off the “fast-track.” But my friend has headed back south to another country, and my life is getting back to its normal routine. Therefore, it’s time to get back into writing and sharing some of my thoughts. So here goes…
When Was The Last Time You Were Convicted?
I’m not talking about being convicted by the justice system of our nation (which doesn’t require a heart change). I’m talking about being convicted by God Himself – a conviction that causes deep repentance in your heart and mind.
“Conspicuously absent today in many churches is conviction concerning sin…. The average believer says, “Yes, I trust Christ.” But he has no real conviction of sin in his life at all. It is absent in contemporary church life. It is seldom that we come forward with tears – convicted of our sin before a holy God that cannot accept us as we are….
“Someone has said that the modern pulpit has become a place where a mild-mannered man gets up before a group of mild-mannered people and urges them to be more mild-mannered…. No wonder the world has passed by the church. We don’t need reforming; we need to be regenerated. We need to be born again.”
These two paragraphs by J. Vernon McGee remind us that we need convicting. I’m not sure what sin or sins you have been struggling with lately, but pray to God that you would see your sin as He sees it. Ask Him to help you be truly heart-broken over the ways that you do not imitate Christ.
May we truly know the conviction of the Lord that leads us to repentance and into more holiness.