convictions and judging
Related hymn: “How Can We Sinners Know“
Many secular folks won’t even consider the notion of Christianity because they feel (based on preconceived ideas or misrepresentations of biblical principals by persons claiming to be Christian) Christianity is a bunch of legal stuff that no one ever does nor wants to do. Is Christianity a list of “dos” and “don’ts”? Not necessarily. It’s a choice, sure, but being a Christian is not what you wear, listen to, watch, what movie rating you allow yourself to view, or even what you profess. These are all things God works on and are results of having been transformed. Let me explain:
After one makes a commitment to be married, they change their lifestyle to accommodate their spouse- giving up previous activities and lifestyles so as to allow for more time or enjoyment with and from their partner and to not offend or upset them. It’s the same to consider oneself a Christian.
When one repents it is not anything they have done themselves. Repentance is twofold: God calls and the sinner reacts. First, God must reveal Himself to an individual as the truth (John 6:37, John 6:44, John 6:65, Luke 10:21). Once God shows what He has done as “taking the bullet” for all humanity, that person has a decision to make: to accept or not accept this. If that person understands who Jesus is (only God can reveal this though: 1 Corinthians 2:14), it is God that does the changing. It’s not cleaning up your act or making change in the way most people think (that would be will power and by giving up all your old habits to please God only partially accomplishes that which the Law set out to do). A true conversion of the heart is the person getting a spark of interest from God Himself to understand more through the bible or teachings or wherever they can get it. Once they read or hear something according to God, they will receive a conviction from Him and it is then their choice to weigh the evidence and follow or not with regard to what was just shown them. It’s so simple! Read or hear + get a conviction + obey said conviction = pleasing to God! To not obey is what we call sin or unbelief (James 4:17). We must constantly live in repentance and understand we are flawed (1 John 2:1, 1 John 1:7-10).
Most folks think- wrongly- that being a Christian means you need to look or act a certain way. When we condemn folks that look or act differently then what we believe a Christian should, we are in serious danger! Remember that our standards are not based on what we conceptualize as “the right way to live as a Christian”, but rather, solely according to biblical principal (John 7:24, John 8:15). To do anything more or less is not “Christian”. God can use anything or anyone in any situation to accomplish His purposes! So, why try to change for your own what God is using for His own? Christians are called to be witnesses and can only give testimony to that which we have been shown (Acts 5:32). Christians are not sent to try the world nor to judge people that are not under God’s convictions at this point (that’s for God- Psalm 7:8, Isaiah 2:4, Matthew 7:1-3, Acts 10:42, Romans 2:16). We are servants of God and nothing more!
Let’s put this in the context of marriage (a great earthly picture the Lord has given us as we are constantly referred to as “the Bride of Christ”):
Let’s say I’m somewhere without my wife and an attractive woman begins to flirt with me. My instinct and my natural lust tell me to flirt back and seek further options with her. I resist this temptation because I have made a commitment to my wife to be hers alone. The best way to handle this situation is to have my wife with me to elbow me in the gut when she sees my eyes starting to wander; however, she can’t always be where I am. Thankfully, God is a Spirit (John 4:24) and can be with me to remind me of the commitment I have made to my Lord (John 16:13-15).
God works this way in all situations. It is Him that gives the convictions as opportunity arises. The desire to please the Lord or His conviction should be the only motivations to eliminate what some might call sin. However, if you know what you’re doing offends/upsets someone, to continue (even though you haven’t been convicted by God) is still sin because you’re disobeying the “golden rule” (Luke 10:27, 1 Corinthians 8:9).
An individual is responsible for his own salvation only (Romans 14:10-13). To try to act in a way other than a servant of Christ is foolishness! Just love the Lord and speak the Truth as He directs.
An appropriate picture the Lord gives us is from John 9. The whole chapter tells this great story, but the key verse is John 9:25. See, Christ gives us a testimony to share. It is neither a weapon nor a pedestal to sit upon. It’s just one of the things Jesus gives us to proclaim His greatness through us as we deliver the message that the Lord wants people to come to Him (James 4:7-8). That won’t happen if people are not submitting and letting Christ do the convicting- They are “playing God” and scaring folks off!
To the convicted Christian, the message is clear: “Knock it off guys and let God do His job!”
To the judgmental non-Christian: “Don’t judge a religion by the people that comprise it (as they are fallible as well as everyone else and aren’t all reliable), but rather by the one they follow and the teachings thereof. Don’t slam the gavel before you’ve read the doctrine yourself and aren’t just parroting someone else’s lines.”
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