What Is Faith? Part 2
A Christian, though, is someone who has seen the truth for what it is and has accepted it - indeed embraced it.
What Is Faith? Part 2
As Christians, we often use some words that take on special meanings for us. One of those is the word conviction. You don't hear that word outside of the church very often. Here is how the Bible uses it:
Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
What do we mean when we say that? What does conviction mean to a follower of Jesus?
Convict and convince actually share a common meaning. They both come from the root word victory. Inherent in the word conviction is the idea of being overpowered or conquered. When we are convicted, we are overwhelmed by something and we finally stop resisting it. When we have been convinced we are “conquered”, so to speak.
That neatly describes the key component to our faith in God. Most people fight against the idea of God. They resist believing in something that they can't see, hear, feel, taste or smell. They don’t want to acknowledge that there is Someone out there who is greater than us, reigns over us and has a moral code that we are subjected to. That’s unnatural for most people.
A Christian, though, is someone who has seen the truth for what it is, has accepted it - indeed embraced it - and has found that this is where life really begins. Instead of faith in God being a burden, we find that faith allows us to experience real life for the first time. That requires surrender. Do you see where this all connects with the idea of victory? That’s what our conviction is all about.
Knowing God as a person is a beautiful thing. I put my hope and trust in Him because it is my “conviction” that He is real and He cares for me. I have been “convinced” of this by His Word and His Spirit.
Romans 8:38-39
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
You will never convince me otherwise.
