Develop Personal Convictions
To pursue integrity, we must establish personal convictions. Our convictions will keep us steady in life!! This will result in our actions matching up with what we profess, and people will see wholeness and integrity in our lives.
A conviction is “the quality of showing that one is firmly convinced of what one believes or says” according to Oxford dictionary.
In order to avoid hypocrisy, we must firmly be convinced of what we believe!! There should be part of us that does things unto God and out of obedience to God that no one will ever know. We simply want to live in integrity before God and not have a need to advertise our uprightness before people!!
Sometimes if we live or work with a person who has a strong personality, people find it easier to go along with that person’s ideas/convictions rather than wrestling to find their own! Some people don’t even know what their convictions are because then it means they have to verbalize them to someone who could overpower them. It’s easier not to go there. This is especially true for those who have a great need for man’s acceptance and don’t want to “rock the boat”.
If we are the one with strong personality, we have to be careful not to overpower people with our convictions. We can share the scripture, and pray for individuals, but there needs to be room for the Holy Spirit to do the work that He can only do!! He is the one who changes the hearts and minds of people and has the power to transform any of us!! To try to speed up the process, we foster Christians to stay babes in Christ. They may feel pressured to conform, but they are not transformed inside out!!
To establish our own convictions, we have to ask more tough questions from God and not be so quick to have an answer for everyone. We read the Bible, pray, and ask the Lord to show us where adjustments are necessary in our beliefs and perspectives. This requires work, and it takes longer. Some are not willing to do the hard work for themselves; they would rather eat the prepared meal that someone else has made!!
We can see the difference between someone who is convinced about an issue versus one who is only regurgitating someone else’s conviction. Those who are a mouthpiece for someone else, their statements have no substance or weight to them although they seemingly sound good. If you press for further examination of one’s beliefs within a couple of questions, they can fall back on what they learned from their mentor. Sometimes their words are just based on a book they read or what they heard a Christian superstar speak about!!
holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. Titus 1:9
If we are going to be prepared as an end time church, we are called to have a backbone that is established on the word of God and the word of our testimony. It’s a lot of easier to just repeat someone else’s convictions and a lot harder to grow in our own, but the test of time and the test of suffering will show us how we have been building.
Second hand conviction is just a belief and will not withstand the tests that will be coming, but when we develop our own, that’s gold and silver. When tested we will come forth more pure and powerful. We inspire others believers to grow in their convictions. We can also impact those who are against the faith and help them see the light of Truth.
Let’s pray and allow the Lord to sharpen us in this area!!