I'm hoping that many of you are keeping up with Steve McVey's video blog series, "101 Lies Taught in Church Every Sunday." I'm always tempted to post the videos here, and maybe I should do more of that, but for now I'm just hoping you're keeping up with them on Steve's blog. In the case of "Lie #63 The Holy Spirit Convicts Us Of Our Sin," I just couldn't pass it up! This message has been on my heart for a long time, and I don't share it enough. A few years back I was reading from the passage from John that Steve brings up here, and it HIT me in a huge way that unbelievers are convicted of sin, and believers are convicted of righteousness! (See links below for a little more on this).
While I've shared some practical applications of this truth at times in the past, I've probably spent more time discussing it from a doctrinal standpoint. I think you will find some very practical advice and applications in this video. Since this subject may not necessarily sit well with some, I invite you to also see Steve's original post in which he briefly writes about this as well. He makes some very good points!
Some past posts of mine that I think go along with this include the two below.
What's right with you (12/28/07)
Convicted of Righteousness (1/16/07)
This is something that is so obvious yet people don't really look into it. Jesus never said the Spirit convicts us of our sins. He said He convicts the world of unbelief in Him. He doesn't say that the Holy Spirit convicts Saints concerning the fact they didn't read their Bible today, got angry and smacked the cat too hard for being a parasite, and whatever else. He convicts us concerning our righteousness! Reminding us of who we are. We don't conviction of our sins because we're a new creation in Christ Jesus. We simply need to be reminded that sinning is not consistent with who we are now. Sometimes we forget and our minds are clouded by the desires of the body.
ReplyDeleteMatthew... great stuff! I think the point that Steve made that stuck out most to me is that when we sin, the "conviction" we feel is not a conviction of sins, but is the Holy Spirit convincing us of who we truly are (the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus). The gentle reminder that our behavior does not line up with who we are is really a reminder of who we really are!
ReplyDeleteI loved it as well!
ReplyDeleteThe Holy Spirit just reminds us when we sin, that we are crawling around like Caterpillars when we could be flying around like Butterflies!
(and no, I don't think I have ever read or blog, or commented about it - but I am sure going to start!)
Kat... Welcome! And what a perfect description of crawling around like the caterpillars that we once were rather than flying around like the butterflies that we now are!
ReplyDelete