CONVICTIONS.

Conviction:

'A firmly held belief.'

A lot of things in this world of ours aren't so black and white. There are a lot of things we live for which are based on what we believe about them. So many things we do or stand for that we don't have 'yes' or 'no' answers to.

There are a whole number of occasions we've had to advise people to "use their own discretion" or "follow as the Spirit of God leads". A number of situations for which there is no clear-cut advice on what to do in the Bible. While as a Christian certain things for me are just that – black and white – like the fact that my salvation is based on faith in Christ Jesus, other things aren't – like the choice of a life of celibacy or that of marriage, the method for choosing a life partner, what career path to take, how to react to people during periods of grief or heartache, or even the right advice to give to a growing teenager "lost on the road of life"(I hope with all my heart that there is someone out there, anyone really, who would know where this quote hails from. Lol).

For questions like that and so many others, I've searched around and I've seen that the answers we give are mostly based on our perception of things we see, we've seen, have been taught or that we ourselves have experienced on the journey of our lives. Others have been children born as a result of the visions we have inside or the passion stirred up in our hearts during nights or moments so changing, no one but ourselves could fully comprehend.

Whatever their sources, our convictions shape such a huge part of our lives that for a man or woman without beliefs they can hold firm and stake their lives on, they could be akin to living a shadow-form of life. A life without convictions is a life where anything goes and what stands for you is whatever is the current rage. And many times, such life is always a depressing shell – An echo of what could be – what should be.

Whether they were right or wrong, we've seen from history how time without end, the earth has been greatly moved, not by men and women who followed every current fad, but by those who do believed in something so deeply that it not only changed their way of thinking and viewing the world, by also changed the way they interacted with the world and by default, the world itself.

"It's really no wonder a majority of the movies and books we enjoy reading have at least two or three characters with convictions guiding their lives, so deep that they either live or die by them."

We see Thomas Edison, with a conviction so deep that bulbs could one day produce light – a conviction that kept him at it in spite of the number of times he failed, and we see the result of such conviction at the end of it all. We see Adolf Hitler(not the best example we love to see, I know) with a conviction(though very deranged) that 'blonde, blue-eyed and tall' Germans were the superior race, and how such a deep-set conviction altered the lives of so many. We see Kathryn Kuhlman, a woman who so much believed in the miraculous that her very life was a living, breathing miracle. And then we see God as Jesus on earth, so convinced of the limitlessness of His powers that He could sleep in the middle of a raging storm.

Like it or not, we see how the convictions these people possessed were the fuel that strengthened the flames of their lives. We see the ripple effects of their convictions play out in the lives of others. We see the extent to which a man ruled by his convictions can go. It's really no wonder a majority of the movies and books we enjoy reading have at least two or three characters with convictions guarding their lives so deep that they either live or die by them.

Now, I've introduced us to the world and power of our convictions. Time to ask ourselves a major and often life-changing question, "what do I believe in?". What is that thing that drives you to go against all odds and stand for what it says? What are those things that can keep you awake at night, studying or praying or even browsing the internet for more information. What are our beliefs about life? About love? About family? About other people? What guide the decisions we make? The people we follow? The things we listen to?

Are we just echoes of the lives of others? Or are there things we can stand for regardless of who it is that speaks up against them? Are there things it'd be impossible for us to ever be confused about – like our names,(twenty years ago, 'gender' could have been added to this list, but now people aren't even sure about that anymore.), or our weight when we step on a scale? Are there things we're so sure of like the back of our palms? Or do we just say whatever we hear the latest 'Voice of the generation say?

Believe it or not, God doesn't enjoy seeing His children confused. It's why He gave His Spirit to all who accept Him, as a guide, as one that gives us convictions and helps strengthen them. For the things we still feel unsteady about, the things we do not have a firm belief on, we should ask daily that He opens our eyes to see what He wants for us in those regards and ask for strength to hold them in our hearts and stand by them.

We are loved and greatly cared for.