1 THESSALONIANS 1:2-8 – We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.
THEME OF THE DAY. PEOPLE OF BIBLICAL CONVICTION. The word “conviction” means “a firmly held opinion or belief.” Though that is the basic definition from a dictionary, in the Biblical context, “conviction” is far more weighty in its definition. To have true Biblical conviction means “to stake one’s eternal state and temporal life completely under the authority and direction of the God revealed in the Bible.” A Biblical conviction is not a preference. A Biblical conviction is something for which one would be prepared to die. A preference is something one easily surrenders for the sake of harmony among believers; such as style of worship, type of music, and other things not essential to salvation and spiritual growth.
In today’s scripture, we observe a young church in Thessalonica commended by the Apostle Paul for their Biblical conviction. Granted, they did not have the Bible as we do, but they had the Word. From them, let’s identify the source of Biblical conviction and then three pieces of evidence that we are a people living out Biblical conviction.
First, Biblical conviction is not of human event but of Holy Spirit power – “our gospel came to you not only in Word, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” This comes about by the Spirit of God driving home to our minds and hearts the truth of the Scriptures and of the Christ revealed in the Scripture. And when this work is done in a believer, there is no falling away from the faith. There is falling as we walk by faith, but no true believer will be able to deny the faith, deny Christ, deny the Word, and simply walk away. Impossible. The convicting power of the Spirit will not allow a true believer to apostate in such fashion. If a person may suddenly, even after making a profession of faith in Christ and the Bible, just walk away, the question of whether genuine new birth occurred must be raised.
Next are the results or evidences we are people of Biblical conviction. The Thessalonians validated their true conviction of the Word by three things. There was joy in suffering – “for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Christians filled with Biblical conviction and under the control of the Spirit who builds this conviction are not complainers when suffering comes. They actually rejoice in suffering because they know, by Biblical conviction, it identifies them with their Lord Jesus. Another evidence of living with Biblical conviction is that outward conduct is decidedly and easily observed as being Biblical – “so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.” Christians with true Biblical convictions are not worldly Christians. They don’t compromise Biblical truth by loose living or living for this world. And such a lifestyle is noticed by those observing them. A third evidence we live with Biblical conviction is the boldness to proclaim the truth of the Gospel and Person of Christ – “For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.” If we are Biblically convinced of the truth that people are heading to a Christ-less eternity in hell, our conviction of this truth will always loosen our lips when it comes to proclaiming the Gospel.
People of Biblical conviction. It is only those type of people who leave an impact in their worlds for Christ. May we be such people before a watching world.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to be a person of deep and unwavering Biblical conviction that shows in my life and speech.”
QUOTE: “Biblical conviction isn’t built by saying “I believe the Bible.” It comes from encountering the God in the Bible.”