The gift of conviction …

A significant part of the advance of technology in the design of automobiles is the expansion of warning systems incorporated into vehicles.

You’re probably familiar with the “check engine” light or perhaps the “low oil” light that serve as warnings to drivers. But additional warning systems in modern vehicles include a driver alertness detection system, blind spot monitoring, rear view cameras for safe backing, lane support systems, speed alert, and even roll over protection. All these systems are added into the design of today’s cars and trucks to help travelers safely navigate their journeys.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a warning system not just for the cars we drive, but for the decisions we make and the lives we live?

We do!

It’s provided by the Holy Spirit, and it comes in the form of what we call conviction.

The Holy Spirit convicts non-Christians of their sin and their need for Jesus Christ as their Savior; and He also provides conviction to Christians who, in their weakness, toy with temptation to sin or actually entertain it.

For example, the Holy Spirit helps the unbeliever see their sin and need for Christ, such as in this story told by M. Cocoris …

I was once conducting a rap session with high school teenagers. I told them that they could ask me any question on any subject, and I would try and answer it. Their questions were typical of ones I had received in similar sessions scores of times before. As the session drew to a close, one girl toward the back, who had not said anything, raised her hand. I nodded, and she said, “The Bible says God loves everybody. Then it says that God sends people to hell. How can a loving God do that?”

I gave her my answer, and she came back to me with arguments. I answered her arguments, and she answered my answers. The conversation quickly degenerated into an argument. I did not convince her, nor did she convince me. After a few more questions I dismissed the session. After the session I approached her and said, “I owe you an apology. I really should not have allowed our discussion to become so argumentative.” Then I asked, “May I share something with you?” She said, “Yes.” So I took her through a basic presentation of the gospel. When I got to Romans 3:23 and suggested that all of us were sinners, she began to cry. It was then that this high school senior admitted she had been having an affair with a married man. The one thing she needed was forgiveness. When I finished the presentation of the gospel, she trusted Christ. The reason she did not believe in hell was because she was going there. In her heart she knew she had sinned. Her conscience condemned her, but rather than face the fact of her guilt, she simply denied any future judgment or future hell.

The Holy Spirit used the Gospel to bring conviction of sin into this girl’s mind and heart, and an understanding that she needed Christ as her Savior.

Here’s an example (originally recorded in Our Daily Bread, 1993) of how the Holy Spirit uses conviction to correct Christians who stray in their following of Jesus …

Sociology professor Anthony Campolo recalls a deeply moving incident that happened in a Christian junior high camp where he served. One of the campers, a boy with spastic paralysis, was the object of heartless ridicule. When he would ask a question, the boys would deliberately answer in a halting, mimicking way.

One night his cabin group chose him to lead the devotions before the entire camp. It was one more effort to have some “fun” at his expense. Unashamedly the spastic boy stood up, and in his strained, slurred manner, each word coming with enormous effort, he said simply, “Jesus loves me, and I love Jesus!” That was all.

Conviction fell upon those junior-highers. Many began to cry. Revival gripped the camp. Years afterward, Campolo still meets men in the ministry who came to Christ because of that testimony.

Conviction helps us avoid sin when tempted by it, or to correct our course with confession and repentance if we’ve driven our lives into the morass of sin. Thus, conviction is a great gift from the Holy Spirit, but only benefits us if we respond to it rightly rather than ignoring it.

Is the Holy Spirit convicting you about something in your life? How are you responding to the gift of conviction?

Scotty