“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me . . .” (John 16:8-9 NKJV).
This is how I know the Bible is true. This happened to me. The Holy Spirit convicted me of sin, the sin of not believing in Jesus. And He continues to convict me whenever I fail to trust Him.
This unbelief is His main concern, but the Holy Spirit also convicts of other kinds of sin, sin being defined as going my own way, doing things contrary to the will of God. Conviction is a deep realization that I am guilty of displeasing God. Conviction will not go away. It nudges and nags, and I just know that God is asking for a change.
Who would do that to themselves? Not me. I’m too proud. Me do the wrong thing? Never. But the Holy Spirit marches through my pride and right up to the throne where I sit in supposed control of my life and tells me I don’t belong there. Thirty some years ago, when I first heard Him say it, I knew He was right. While my rule was not working, I also realized that running my own life was against the plan of God. I was rebelling against my Creator. When He convicted me of that fact, He also showed me the grace of God in coming to earth and paying my penalty for sin. At that moment I knew the only thing to do was hand my life over to Jesus Christ.
It didn’t take long to find out that part of being a sinful creature is the failure to keep commitments. Ever since that day I’ve had to repeat that surrender in some area of life. The Holy Spirit continues to convict me when I fail to trust Him, and am disobedient to His will, trying to run my own life.
Conviction of sin is not a human trait. Apart from God, I might feel bad if I get caught, change my ways if things are not working, stop doing something if the results hurt me, all selfish reasons. God’s power to convict stands in sharp contrast to my selfishness. I would never call myself a sinner. The fact that He convinces me otherwise proves to me that God is real and what Jesus said is true.
No comments:
Post a Comment