May 12, 2007

Living with Conviction

Some time ago I read a quote that said "If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything".
Your convictions are the beliefs and persuasions that ground you and establish the pattern of your life.

Without strong convictions our decisions will be guided and influenced by whoever or whatever has the strongest persuasion at the time.
whether that be the persuasion of Culture- Everyone is doing it ,Tradition- We have always done it that way ,Reason -It seems logical ,Emotion-It feels right

Your convictions cannot be separated from the pattern of your life. Where and how you stand will set the course of your life.

Paul went on to exhort and encourage Timothy: "Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 1:13 NKJV

Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God Romans12:2

The bible says we are transformed by the renewing of our mind the Greek word is metamorphosis used to describe the amazing change a caterpillar goes through in becoming a butterfly

When we allow God to shape our convictions our convictions will eventually shape us and, they will set a pattern of your life. Strong convictions will and do build a strong life, but if your convictions are weak and wavering, your life will be the same.

If you want to build a pattern in your life that will produce God's best for your life you will need to make good choices. The choices you make are determined by your convictions. Becoming people of strong conviction, will ensure we will stand firm when tough times come.

Next time I will explore people in the bible who lived with strong convictions and what those convictions were

4 comments:

Kenrick Smith said...

hey mate, nice word

sorry but im continually wondering as i read your post if its your stuff or someone elses. its no biggyu and up to you but its like it gets discredited in my head as i read cos think it might not be yours. So maybe just an idea but maybe if its yours right at the top, Idea from dr sues or, jeremy with ideas from... just an idea.

Jeremy Sargent said...

Hi Ricko good point -i have made the changes you suggested.
A lot of the stuff I write comes from years of reading -listening -journaling and lessons I have learnt through life experience both good and from the "school of hard knocks".
Thier is more to me than the, Oh..he is the Lost people matter to god -they should matter to us guy"
I am enjoying blogging
Thanks for reading
Jeremy

James said...

Hi Jeremy,

I just had to comment on the 'metamorphosis' thing...

The biological sense of metamorphosis is actually borrowed from the greek (rather than the greek borrowing from english :)

The greek word 'metamorphoo' truly does means 'transform'.

It is an interesting word though as it is also the word use when describing Christ's 'transfiguration' on the mountain. It only appears 4 times in the bible; twice to describe Jesus transfiguration, Romans 12:2 and then 2 Cor 3:18 "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

So it is clear that is transformation, a whole lot more than some kind of subtle change. It is truly a transformation, changing from one thing into something completely different.

Keep up the good work with the blogging! It is fantastic to see others share what they have learnt, whether it be through the things they have heard, or experienced.

God Bless,

James Brunskill

Clive Smit said...

"Your convictions cannot be separated from the pattern of your life."

The scary thing is if we look at our lives... our choices right now... they are declaring our convictions (OUCH!)

Thanks for the encouragement bro...
Your Blog is massive... Keep it up!