So last night I was talking to my friend Hayley about 'The
perfect type of love' which turned into a conversation about Grace and
Conviction, and the more we spoke the more i realised that so many of us have
different viewpoints on what Christianity is to us and what it consists of. The
more heated our conversation became the more Grace and Conviction and how the
Holy Spirit is a part of it stood out to me. So what are the definitions of
Grace and Conviction?
Oxford Dictionary
Grace: (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favour
of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of
blessings.
A divinely given talent or blessing: the graces of the Holy
Spirit
The condition or fact of being favoured by someone: he fell
from grace because of drug use at the Olympics
Conviction: A formal declaration by the verdict of a jury or
the decision of a judge in a court of law that someone is guilty of a criminal
offence: she had a previous conviction for a similar offence
A firmly held belief
or opinion: she takes pride in stating her political convictions
Now Hayley's view was that we once Jesus died on the cross
for us and gave us eternal life, we cannot be convicted?
So I asked her this: "K, so give me your opinion on
conviction"
Hayley’s Answer: hmmm... as humans, we are imperfect, as
soon as Adam and Eve ate from the fruit it became a broken world and sin was
inevitable. It’s impossible to not sin. So, think of it like this, God is Daddy
and we are the little children. He says we must do something, and it’s
impossible for us to do, he doesn’t get mad at us, or disappointed, it’s like
asking a baby to write... they can’t. Because you see that what they are asking
is impossible. God put the Ten Commandments in place to show how no one can
compare to Jesus.
I asked “Do you believe you can be convicted?"
Hayley: "God doesn’t convict, daddy wouldn’t tell the
kid that he/she's bad because he knows that it is impossible for us. He helps
us to learn how to be better people; he doesn’t guilt us into trying of our own
accord only to fail again"
So basically my understanding of what she is saying is that,
God wont makes us convict us to only see us fail again.
I asked “what is your opinion on grace?"
Hayley "Grace... well Gods forgiven us of all our sins.
He became our sins while on the cross. Every sin we've ever committed has been
forgiven and forgotten, even if we haven’t committed that sin yet. I guess
grace is just the pure forgiveness and love of God... i can’t put it into words
really well though! "
So now that you've heard her opinion on Conviction and
Grace, here is mine.
What does grace mean? What is grace? Well...
THE HOLY SPIRIT'S PART IN GRACE AND CONVICTION
There are two types of grace that we want to think about. We
will look at common grace first and then efficacious grace.
Common grace:
Is that grace which God extends to all of us throughout our
lives and conditions? This is the grace which brings the seasons, the rains,
the sunshine and the revelation of God within nature. This is seen in Ps.
145:9, "The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his
works" There are other verses as well, Matt. 5:45, Luke 6:35, Acts 14:17,
and Rom. 1:19-20
Simply meaning, being able to survive 'the end of the world'
and seeing the next day is God’s grace, instead of God saying, ' you choose to
believe in something other than what my scripture says, but i still allow you
to live'
EFFICACIOUS GRACE
Efficacious grace is that product that we fail to realize
many times in our witnessing. It is the grace that extends from God to allow
the person to believe and accept the Lord.
Efficacious grace might also show up in some books as
effective grace. It is grace that is effective in bringing the lost to God.
Efficacious means: ".....having the power to produce a desired effect....."
Efficacious grace then, is grace that is able to produce the desired effect,
that effect being, the drawing of us to God. You see i believe that this type
of Grace is a Grace that moves us towards trying to be more Christ like as we
move along in life and on our walk with Christ.
Which brings me onto Conviction?
CONVICTION
Bushwell mentions, "Jesus promised, 'When He [the
Spirit of Truth] is come, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment' (John 16:8). This was Jesus' promise as He told of the
ministry of the Holy Spirit. The world of our day is strangely unconvinced,
unconvinced, and unconcerned; yet where Spirit-filled men faithfully present
the Spirit-inspired Word of God, conviction of sin comes. The great need of the
world today is for consecrated channels for the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.
Only so can there be a genuine turning to the Lord and acceptance of the
Gospel." (Bushwell, James Oliver; "A SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY OF THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION")
Bushwell submits that the Romans one revelation of God is
accepted or rejected. The revelation being the common grace and the acceptance
of it the first step in what he calls "effectual calling". His
effectual calling would be what we have established as efficacious grace.
Lost man not only is guilty, but the Holy Spirit will
convict him of his error.
And that is why i believe Grace, Conviction and the Holy
Spirit go hand in hand.
I hope it all made sense :)
please feel free to email me on any questions so we can discuss this or leave a comment... SERIOUSLY :|
