It's Christmas! No better time to understand and strengthen our beliefs, move our beliefs to convictions and transform those convictions into actions. We have previously discussed understanding what we believe as followers of Christ. Is believing enough? Based on the modern usage of the word I would answer a resounding "No!" We believe so many things and we change those beliefs so easily it is hard to tell the difference between a belief and a loosely held opinion. Like many other adulterations of the Christian faith, modern society has stolen the the meaning of belief and replaced it with something safe and easy. We can easily answer the question, "Do you believe Jesus is God incarnate and He took on the form of a man to pay the price for our sins that we are unable to pay?", in the affirmative with a simple "yes"without giving any thought to what we have just affirmed.
I challenge followers of Christ to go beyond such simplistic belief to conviction. An opinion carries no strength and we change those easily. Belief is a little stronger but as we have just discussed it carries little more weight than an opinion in our post-modern world. We need to move past belief to conviction. A conviction is something you will die for to put it bluntly. A conviction becomes a filter for our decisions and actions. While we will change an opinion in a casual conversation or revamp a belief over coffee, we will die for a conviction. Until we understand and believe to the level of a conviction we are coming up short of what the Bible describes as saving faith. What is our response?
A conviction is not an idea we keep tucked away until we are asked what we believe. It is not simply the right answer to the preachers question after we walk the aisle. A conviction is a belief that molds our life from the inside out. A conviction is not manifest by words alone either. A conviction is seen in our actions and more specifically in the balance between our words and our deeds. Read James 1:19 - 25 and you will get a glimpse of what I am talking about. This is the passage that contains in verse 22 the exhortation, "But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
To summarize, understand the word of God by devoting the time to understand what it is we belief and why. Allow those beliefs to shape us from the inside and hold to the truth of our convictions. Those conviction will compel us to action. On the day we celebrate the coming of a Savior, let us consider honestly the truth of our words and how they should mold our actions the other 364 days a year.
Stay tuned for the final segment of the series when we discuss "what not to do."
Merry Christmas!
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