From God’s perspective, are we truly assured and persuaded in our heart and minds that we are made righteous in Christ? Do we think more about our condemnation than our sanctification? Why is that? i think we are far more convinced of our badness than we are of being justified by the blood of Jesus. We often think we are far worse than God’s goodness is able to overcome. A lot of people spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about their sin, truly are convinced of their sin, but merely hope in their salvation as some ethereal, distant thing which could be debatable based on the depth of their sin. Why would i say that? Consider how much time is spent, and how many words are given to making sure we know how bad we are than how good God is? Are you convinced of God’s forgiveness for your sins? Are you secure and absolute concerning your standing in the Lord by the blood of Jesus? Friend, after all the seasons you’ve walked through—every unexpected turn, every quiet disappointment—are you truly convinced of God’s faithfulness? Do you rest in a confidence that no longer doubts Him?
Maybe the road didn’t unfold the way you hoped. Maybe the ending looked nothing like the picture you carried in your heart. Maybe the silence lasted longer than you thought you could bear. Maybe the answer arrived in a form you never would have chosen. Just because things haven’t gone as expected, or as predicted, does that mean God failed you? No. He never has.
And still… we doubt. Our mouths declare that we trust Him fully, yet the quiet habits of our days—the worry, the grasping, the planning without Him—tell a different story.
Let us be convinced. In Genesis 31, Jacob having completed his agreement with his slippery, conniving uncle Laban, secretly picks up his wives, all his livestock and goods and leaves town. This really irked Laban so he flies out the door in hot pursuit of Jacob because he thinks Jacob has taken things from him which aren’t his to take. Suspicion evidently played a large part of Laban’s life i think. After chasing Jacob and company for seven days, Laban finally catches up to Jacob and all his people, Laban accuses Jacob of wrong doing and insists on searching through all their stuff, trying to catch him in some underhandedness. After all his searching, he finds nothing in Jacob’s stuff, wherewith Jacob hotly says in Genesis 31:37, “For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen for all to see, that they may decide between us two.“ There, right there in the last sentence where he says, “that they may decide between us two.” The word “decide” is a word used in a judicial sense, meaning “convince”, in the sense of two going to court together, with one trying to prove true or false the accusation of the another.
God’s idea of being “convinced of sin” is not merely about using an argument to prove someone’s guilt. His intent in using that word carries a far heavier purpose—it points toward repentance and a return to the Lord.
There is also a real difference between being convinced and being convicted. You can be convinced of something without being deeply convicted. Conviction is more than just believing the truth; the truth settles in your spirit. It presses on you and changes the way you live. Being convinced and having strong convictions go together like travelling companions. Many people can say with their mouths, “I am convinced God is faithful,” while their habits still quietly reveal lingering doubt. True conviction closes that gap. It takes what the mind has accepted and drives it deeper—into the heart and the conscience—until belief and living begin to match. To be both convinced and convicted does more than expose sin. It points beyond the sin, lifting our eyes to see God Himself—the One who restores the wayward and leads them back into right living.
We often feel the need to convince the world of its sin. But God’s way is different. True, He convicts of sin, yet even more so, He opens our eyes to how good He is to forgive. The upward gaze toward His mercy is always more important than the downward gaze toward condemnation.
Proverbs 3:12, “…for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father who absolutely delights in his son.” Reproves occurs once, loves and delights occurs twice. We often stop at the “conviction of sin” part, but the Lord advances the vision for us to step further in order to see His goodness, not just our badness.
To “convince” means to use persuasive words of wisdom and insight. Like in Luke16:31, “He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” Meaning do we really think, regardless of our gift of persuasion and much speaking, if they haven’t believed the multiple testimonies previously given, even if someone were raised from the dead, do you really think that will “do the trick”, and then, yes then, they will have that amazing AH-HA moment, convinced? Beating someone into submission with a club doesn’t convince them of anything other than to be afraid.
In 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, Paul writes, “…and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
What are the earmarks of our being convinced about who Christ is? When we are convinced, we “heed and follow”. When Jesus said “follow me”, do you think they stopped what they were doing to go after Jesus hoping to be convinced along the way? Probably not. The Holy Spirit did something so huge there, that on the spot, they were so, SO convinced AND SO convicted they stopped all they were doing to go with the Lord.
In Titus1:16 the word “disobedient” is used, which from Greek, literally means unconvinced, which gives rise to lies, false teachers, and arrogance which says “i know better than you, and you’d better follow after me because i know and you don’t.” Those who do not “heed and follow” are not convinced and definitely not convicted, making room to achieve their own agenda, often pointing out how much others fall short rather than how we are so loved by God, and that His forgiveness far, far outweighs our wrong.
Are you convinced of whom you have believed and do you hold a conviction that Jesus is Lord? If you do, it is most evidenced in your “heed and follow” lifestyle. If i still make some room for the world, maybe i’m not nearly as convinced as i’d like to think i am, nor do i have a strong, inward persuasion that Jesus is the answer, He is the personification of the Truth, and that everything in the Bible matters… personally, cover to cover.
But i will add this, the longer i “heed and follow” the more i “heed and follow” because i am increasingly convinced Jesus is all He says He is, and so much more.