The Discipline of Developing Deep Conviction

The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. (Matthew 13:20-21)

Your soul can be saved. God has the power to do that. Through His word your inner world can be healed, and you can be set free from the problems of sin — it’s penalty, power, products and presence in your life. But you have a part to fulfill. You can choose what kind of soil you will become. You can be a hardened soil, not paying attention to what God is saying to you, or you can be shallow, not exerting the effort to understand deeply what God is saying to you. The former stops the process even before it can begin. But the latter hinders the process from even continuing. You are responsible when it comes to developing a deeper conviction about what God is teaching you. This happens when you are willing to engage with your mind and heart, as well as ask relevant questions together with others in deep conversations. You must be willing to try it out in actual experience in order to see the wisdom of God in action. You cannot be convinced against your will. You have to choose (by exercising your will) to align your mind to the truth of God’s word. You have to do this with integrity. You cannot simply agree intellectually, leaving behind your mind and heart in the process. Passive learning is not true learning. To learn God’s will, you need to pay attention AND develop deep conviction through a process of thinking through what God is revealing to you. It may take a while, and you may have doubts, but if you persevere, you will develop deep convictions. Such convictions will strengthen your heart in the midst of trials, testings and temptations. Shalom! (PB)