How can you tell the difference between the conviction of the Holy Spirit & the condemnation of the evil one (or our own thoughts) Here’s one way: Conviction leads to a greater longing to love better. Condemnation has us focus on how unlovable we are.
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.
I’ve noticed something about people who make a difference in the world: They hold the unshakable conviction that individuals are extremely important, that every life matters. They get excited over one smile. They are willing to feed one stomach, educate one mind, and...
I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.
In the world order we know, there is no place for peace and justice, for equal distribution of material and cultural goods, and for the dignity of every human being. Jesus took a stance for those values and was cynically disposed of as a rabble-rouser. The worst part...
When we start being too impressed by the results of our work, we erroneously come to the conviction that life is one large scoreboard, where someone is listing the points to measure our worth. And before we are fully aware of it, we have sold our soul to the many...
Language patterns do not finally change until we use new patterns enough for them to sound natural and normal. That takes effort, and it takes a conviction that such changes are worth the effort.
Whenever you see someone who has to be right, you are looking at someone who is spending more time reading about God than praying to him. They have assumed that we are in a relationship with propositions instead of a Person. When we go before the God of the universe,...
Good church musicians constantly ask whether the “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” of the church’s worship are sung “so that the Word of God may dwell in us richly” (the forgotten purpose clause of Col. 3:16). Good liturgical musicians worry about the link between...
The Christian’s waiting and hoping is based on the conviction that God is actively involved in his creation and vigorously at work in redemption. Waiting does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident...