Conviction

Conviction is the quality of showing that one is convinced of what one believes or says. In other words, it is the stuff inside us that makes us practice what we preach. Being convicted of what one believes is essential to living a Christian life. If we are not, then despite what we believe, we will have nothing to cause us to act on those beliefs. We will be like the demons in James 2:19, who believe and tremble, but are lost because, though they know the truth, they were not convicted to act upon it in the right manner. Let us look at where conviction comes from, and what it will cause us to do.

Comes From The Word

Paul, in trying to help the Corinthians see the truth about spiritual gifts, shows how one may come, not only to be convinced of the truth, but convicted by it. “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all”(1 Cor. 14:24). It is the prophesying, the preaching, the teaching of God’s word that causes the unbeliever to become a converted, convicted member of the Lord’s church. We are told in Romans 1:16 that the Gospel of Christ is “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” There are many people throughout the world that are not Christians, but are still zealous for their faith. They would physically abuse themselves, refuse to eat, or even kill for what they believe the truth to be. Christ does not have a monopoly on convicted followers, and many of those that follow after Christ are not zealous for Him in a manner that is taught in the Scriptures. Christ speaks of these in Matthew 7:22-23 when He says, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” The mistake that so many make is that they follow another man’s word, or their own wills and not God’s.

Produces Action

What Paul wanted of the Corinthians was to have the conviction to do what they ought to with their gifts. If they all prophesied, that is taught God’s word, then the one that was uninformed would be brought to the knowledge of the truth and be convicted by it. By their own conviction, a lost soul would be saved, and one more would have that same conviction that comes from the Gospel message. What caused those on the day of Pentecost to be saved? Acts 2:37 says that they were, “cut to the heart.” These people having heard the truth of the matter were moved to repentance; they were convicted of what they knew to be true. So were those in John 8 who caught the woman in adultery, and brought her before the Lord. These men set out to achieve their own selfish goals, but even they could not go against their conscience. We are told that after Christ spoke to them, “those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst” (Jn. 8:9). Not only does the conviction that we have cause us to do what we know we ought to, but it also causes us not to do what we know we shouldn’t. Conviction produces action, where there is no action, there is no conviction!

Makes Us Ready

The conviction that we as Christians have helps to make us ready in two ways. First, it makes us ready to go out and preach the word to a lost and dying world. Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim 4:2). He knew of Timothy’s desire to do the Lord’s work, and he wanted to encourage him to progress, to move ever forward. If we are convicted of what we believe, we will do the same. Merely filling a pew on Sunday morning is not what Paul had in mind when, through inspiration, he wrote these words. The second way it makes us ready is that in being convicted of God’s truth, we will be prepared when Christ comes again. We are told throughout the Scriptures to be ready, to wait patiently on Christ’s coming (Js. 5:7; 2 Pet. 3:11, 12). If we are already doing what is expected of us, then no matter when our time comes, we will be ready for it.

Conclusion

How strong is our conviction? Does it, being weak, cause us to struggle day by day to follow faithfully God’s word? Are we merely “convinced” of the truth, but not moved to act on it? Our faith, just as our conviction in that faith will grow as we mature as Christians. May we not only hear and believe the word of God, but may we also be convicted by it as well!