Tag: conviction

Categories
Christian Living

Sorry For the Month Long Hiatus! Maybe I Need More Conviction.

Im-Back-But-Where-Have-I

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.

Categories
Relationships

Does Being A Christian Require You To Be A Jerk?

I am not a jerk.
Well, at least I am pretty sure I am not a jerk.

A jerk is an obnoxious, annoying person who treats other people badly.

I have known plenty of jerks, but I don’t count myself as one of them. Of course, as I think about this… most people who are jerks, have no clue that they are! So maybe I’m a jerk and don’t know it.

But what I mean is that I don’t intentionally set out to treat other people badly. I try to get along with everyone. I don’t set out with a plan to step on anyone’s toes. But I have discovered that sometimes the things I share from the Bible can “sting” a bit. So by simply sharing certain things from the Bible, even when done so out of love and with a compassionate heart, I sometimes get labeled as a jerk.

Have you ever found this to be true? That as a Christian you are commanded to speak the truth in love to others, just as Jesus did, but that people might not be very receptive to your ideas, because they might be contrary to how they are living.

But isn’t the Bible supposed to be a book about God’s love? Yes, but the Bible is also a book of conviction.

If you study the ideas contained in the Bible, what you find is that its content is going to be challenging and sometimes even painful. God tells us that His Word should change us. The Bible is not a storybook simply to be used for entertainment. Nor is it just a history book to keep us from repeating the mistakes of the past. There are entertaining, historical accounts within its pages, but God tells us that His Word has a deeper purpose.

Medieval SwordGod says to us that His Word is living and active and is sharper than a sword. If I properly understand the purpose of a sword… a sword is designed to pierce and to cut. So the Bible, by its own admission, is designed to pierce you… Ouch. That doesn’t sound pleasant. And it seeks to cut out the places in your life that aren’t in-line with God’s character… Ouch Ouch! No one enjoys being pierced or carved on. We prefer comfort.

But Jesus didn’t preach a message of comfort. He came preaching the messages of “Repent,” “Deny Yourself,” and “Follow Me.” He commanded lives be changed for God and for hearts to turn back to God. Conviction and life change should be a regular part of our lives if we are following Jesus.

God knows what is best for me and tells me to present myself to Him “as a sacrifice.” Another unpleasant word…

Sacrifice.

A sacrifice was killed – completely killed. (Is there any other way?) Not halfway killed. Not maimed. But completely and thoroughly killed. So for me to be a sacrifice means I give up everything… Everything. When we present ourselves to God as a sacrifice, we are saying we give up running our own lives and controlling our own plans. We “kill” our will and our desires in order to fulfill His. How well am I doing this? How well are you at it?

God’s goal is to transform me into the likeness of Christ. And as I am going down that path of transformation being pierced and cut, I find it to be painful. Killing my own desires isn’t pleasant. But with each step of killing more of myself, I discover that He gives me more peace and more joy and more abundant life than I had before. So the piercing and carving is painful, but brings a better end. I think the reason it often hurts so much is because of how tightly I am holding onto the things that aren’t good for me. I need to hold to them more loosely.

So even though I sometimes say things that sting, I am not a jerk. (Not usually, anyway.) And certainly not when I’m sharing God’s Word with others out of love. In fact, there is nothing more loving than helping someone become more like Christ and experience the peace, joy, and abundant life that He provides. Or course, at times, some people might not appreciate it!

So don’t be a jerk today, but do share God’s Word with others.