Convicts of God

Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit came, he would convict the world of sin. The word 'convict' can seem heavy-handed. But there is a difference between 'conviction' (a sense of wrongdoing given by the Holy Spirit) and 'condemnation' (a feeling from Satan that we're rubbish, and God couldn't love or forgive us). The first says we've done wrong; the second that we are wrong.

Conviction means that the Holy Spirit is revealing sin, pointing out what needs to change, in order to protect and help us. God only does it for the purpose of showing us what to disregard, because it brings us closer to him. It's never to make us feel rejected or unloved. So, conviction isn't the feeling we get when we are 'caught out'; that is our own sense of social shame. A test is: if we had got away with it, would we feel the same? Conviction also isn't 'fear of punishment'; that's still selfish at heart. When God prompts us to look at our bad actions, we can tell it's his influence on us, rather than our own self-preserving egos at work.

To be fair, if 'conviction' means God showing us how to get right with him, then however tough it feels at the time, we should be desperate for it.



So what now? Here's a prayer for today: 'Lord, show me what I need to apologise for. Convict my heart about things I'm doing against you, and help me turn that conviction straight into repenting and getting right with you. Amen.'





— SCRIPTURE —

'Let my words and my thoughts be pleasing to you.' Psalm 19:14 CEV
— SOULFOOD —