The Courage of Real Convictions
The dictionary wasn't as much help as I thought it might be when I looked up "convictions"; it says:
a fixed or firm belief
and gives such synonyms as :
Those words are OK...but they feel a little "milk toast-esk" ~ have you had milk toast? When I was young, when we got sick we got milk toast...and it is just like what it sounds like ~ lightly toasted bread with milk poured over it. Yeah. As you eat it -- soggy bread not quite melting into the milk -- it looks like something to eat, but you realize it shouldn't be. The word BLAND is redefined by milk toast.
So, convictions! The word itself comes from a Latin word that means to find guilty...as in convicted of a crime, the guilty convictions of a criminal. And it also means "persuasion, principle, belief". It is the tie to "found guilty" that, for me, gives the word strength. A conviction is not merely a principle, nor a dogma or creed. It is for me and in my Christian walk nearly the opposite of legalism. A conviction is a settled issue, where a judgement has been made and sealed in my heart as surely as if a judge pronounced it...for in fact THE Judge has. A conviction is a solid place in my heart and spirit where I have been told and shown something by God and I know that I know that I know that I know that that is what I know, and walk in, and believe and base my actions upon. Someone once gave this example when trying to explain the difference between a belief and a conviction. When you learn something ~ a principle, or even a truth and you agree to it, it is not yet a conviction. When you apply it to your life, in your everyday life, it is not yet a conviction. When everything is at stake, when you might "loose it all" if you stand on the conviction, and you stand anyway...then and only then is it a conviction. That is what is behind the idiom "the courage of your convictions". Real convictions take courage, they take a heart immovable and set no matter what. David was a man of convictions. David was strong because he had and he held to and he walked in conviction.
Go read 1 Samuel 24. Yes, now. I'll wait...
OK...are you finished?
Quite a story, don't you agree? Here is David, on the run from Saul who only wants to kill David because David is a GOOD GUY. David is a great soldier, kills lots of Philistines and does a great job protecting Israel. To make matters worse, God has taken the kingdom away from Saul and given it to David, but ... Saul gets to stay in office, gets to keep the crown, the authority, the palace and the title, and David gets to walk in the anointing and ... live in the wilderness. And . . . SAUL IS MAD and keeps trying to kill David! Yeah, that's fair. Then (can you hear the music mounting in the background as you read?) One day while David is hiding from Saul and Saul is unsuccessfully searching for David, Saul has to ... "relieve himself". He goes into a cave, and wouldn't you know it ~ it is the very cave where David and his men are hiding? David's men are gleeful and they draw a pretty logical conclusion: "God had handed Saul to you on a silver platter, David...KILL HIM! Your troubles will all be over and you can become king in deed!" David sneaks up behind Saul while he is ... ummmm .... 'concentrating'. David raises his knife . . .
and . . .
cuts off a corner from Saul's cloak and sneaks back to the back of the cave. Can you hear the men? "What the &%^*$#?>)!&%#@*>)%$(^&% , David ????!!!!!!!" Then David explains his conviction: Saul is God's anointed. That's it! Saul's life is in God's hands and David will not kill him just because he could. The ends DO NOT justify the means. David knows it looks like an opportunity; David knows he could kill Saul. He knows what he has to gain. BUT -- David also knows Saul is God's anointed.
1 Sam 24:6-7
"The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD's anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the LORD." 7 With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.
NIV
So David stands in the courage of his convictions, and even tells Saul he could have killed him but he didn't. He walks out his conviction that he is God's king and he will trust God with is life and his future. This story shows me why David was a man after God's own heart! Right??!!
I think you can only stand in real conviction if you have faith...if you believe God -- not merely believe IN God, but believe God! I think really walking in the courage of your actual convictions is a formula for greatness. And convictions are a matter of real freedom -- we live free to choose to do what is right. And you only know a conviction to be a conviction when all around you the circumstances, your friends, your peers, and sometimes even your own dreams and desires scream at you "do it! the ends justify the means"
but
you say "NO! Right is right. It doesn't matter if I can. It doesn't matter what I gain. It doesn't matter what I'll lose. and, as Martin Luther said, 'Here I stand, I can do no other' ."
a fixed or firm belief
and gives such synonyms as :
| confidence, creed, doctrine, dogma, eye, faith, feeling, judgment call, mind, persuasion, principle, reliance, say so, sentiment, slant, tenet, view |
Those words are OK...but they feel a little "milk toast-esk" ~ have you had milk toast? When I was young, when we got sick we got milk toast...and it is just like what it sounds like ~ lightly toasted bread with milk poured over it. Yeah. As you eat it -- soggy bread not quite melting into the milk -- it looks like something to eat, but you realize it shouldn't be. The word BLAND is redefined by milk toast.
So, convictions! The word itself comes from a Latin word that means to find guilty...as in convicted of a crime, the guilty convictions of a criminal. And it also means "persuasion, principle, belief". It is the tie to "found guilty" that, for me, gives the word strength. A conviction is not merely a principle, nor a dogma or creed. It is for me and in my Christian walk nearly the opposite of legalism. A conviction is a settled issue, where a judgement has been made and sealed in my heart as surely as if a judge pronounced it...for in fact THE Judge has. A conviction is a solid place in my heart and spirit where I have been told and shown something by God and I know that I know that I know that I know that that is what I know, and walk in, and believe and base my actions upon. Someone once gave this example when trying to explain the difference between a belief and a conviction. When you learn something ~ a principle, or even a truth and you agree to it, it is not yet a conviction. When you apply it to your life, in your everyday life, it is not yet a conviction. When everything is at stake, when you might "loose it all" if you stand on the conviction, and you stand anyway...then and only then is it a conviction. That is what is behind the idiom "the courage of your convictions". Real convictions take courage, they take a heart immovable and set no matter what. David was a man of convictions. David was strong because he had and he held to and he walked in conviction.
Go read 1 Samuel 24. Yes, now. I'll wait...
 |
| silent musical interlude while you read 1 Samuel 24 |
OK...are you finished?
Quite a story, don't you agree? Here is David, on the run from Saul who only wants to kill David because David is a GOOD GUY. David is a great soldier, kills lots of Philistines and does a great job protecting Israel. To make matters worse, God has taken the kingdom away from Saul and given it to David, but ... Saul gets to stay in office, gets to keep the crown, the authority, the palace and the title, and David gets to walk in the anointing and ... live in the wilderness. And . . . SAUL IS MAD and keeps trying to kill David! Yeah, that's fair. Then (can you hear the music mounting in the background as you read?) One day while David is hiding from Saul and Saul is unsuccessfully searching for David, Saul has to ... "relieve himself". He goes into a cave, and wouldn't you know it ~ it is the very cave where David and his men are hiding? David's men are gleeful and they draw a pretty logical conclusion: "God had handed Saul to you on a silver platter, David...KILL HIM! Your troubles will all be over and you can become king in deed!" David sneaks up behind Saul while he is ... ummmm .... 'concentrating'. David raises his knife . . .
and . . .
cuts off a corner from Saul's cloak and sneaks back to the back of the cave. Can you hear the men? "What the &%^*$#?>)!&%#@*>)%$(^&% , David ????!!!!!!!" Then David explains his conviction: Saul is God's anointed. That's it! Saul's life is in God's hands and David will not kill him just because he could. The ends DO NOT justify the means. David knows it looks like an opportunity; David knows he could kill Saul. He knows what he has to gain. BUT -- David also knows Saul is God's anointed.
1 Sam 24:6-7
"The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD's anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the LORD." 7 With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.
NIV
So David stands in the courage of his convictions, and even tells Saul he could have killed him but he didn't. He walks out his conviction that he is God's king and he will trust God with is life and his future. This story shows me why David was a man after God's own heart! Right??!!
I think you can only stand in real conviction if you have faith...if you believe God -- not merely believe IN God, but believe God! I think really walking in the courage of your actual convictions is a formula for greatness. And convictions are a matter of real freedom -- we live free to choose to do what is right. And you only know a conviction to be a conviction when all around you the circumstances, your friends, your peers, and sometimes even your own dreams and desires scream at you "do it! the ends justify the means"
but
you say "NO! Right is right. It doesn't matter if I can. It doesn't matter what I gain. It doesn't matter what I'll lose. and, as Martin Luther said, 'Here I stand, I can do no other' ."
insightful and timely
ReplyDeleteHere is another definition of conviction: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection od divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
ReplyDeleteI love this!:) this takes me back to the time where I would be sitting in your Old Testament circa 2006 haha hi Ms. Meyer! You have always been an awesome story teller and you still are up to this day after reading this post. Looking forward to the next one!
ReplyDelete