There is a defined
difference between an opinion and a conviction. An opinion is a commitment to
what we think is true or want to be true, based on personal
feelings and perception. Opinion is relative. It may change with age,
information or circumstances. Opinions are affected by how things look, what
others are saying or how we feel about what we’re going through.
A conviction is more
absolute. It remains constant. A conviction is a commitment to what we’re convinced
is true, based on facts from a source we trust. It isn’t affected by how things look, what others are saying or how we feel about
what we’re going through. Convictions remain true because the source of our
trust doesn’t change.
I was surprised to
find that Rick Warren and I agreed on something: An opinion is something you
hold; a conviction is something that holds you. An opinion is something you’ll
argue about. A conviction is something you will suffer for and, if necessary,
die for.
We form opinions by
collecting data from observation, circumstances, feelings, other people and
logic. Though these are our feelers to help us regulate ourselves to
what’s around us, they do not always tell us the truth. My eyes can deceive me.
My heart can overwhelm me. What people say may confuse me. My logic can be
flawed.
A man stepped on a
scale that produced a card giving his weight and comments about his
personality. “Here, listen to this: “You are a dynamic, born leader, handsome,
and much admired by others for your personality.” “Let me see that card,” his
wife said. “Oh, I see it’s got your weight wrong too."
An opinion is a
preference. A conviction is a principle. Preferences change. Principles remain
the same.
Faith, as you might
imagine, is designed to operate on conviction, not opinion.
Heb
11:1 Now faith is the assurance of
things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen.
Opinions do not
reflect faith. They reflect the moment. How I feel today about an issue may not
be how I feel about it tomorrow. If all I have is an opinion that God is
faithful, I will not depend on Him. I must be convinced. My opinion
may change if God disappoints me, or my pain is worse today than yesterday, or
the flat tire makes me late to an appointment. My conviction stands firm
because God doesn’t change. If I have a God who changes, then I can have no
convictions.
Spurgeon: If
I thought that the notes of the bank of England could not be cashed next week,
I should decline to take them; and if I thought that God's promises would never
be fulfilled – if I thought that God would for
some reason alter some word in his promises – then farewell Scriptures!
If God is unfaithful
in part, He is unfaithful in the whole. If God lies about one thing, then
what’s to stop Him from lying about something else. Which takes us into a
theological term that references God’s unchangeableness: Immutability.
One dictionary defines
immutability as the quality of not being subject to or susceptible to
change.
Mal 3:6 I am the Lord, I change not…
1Sam 15:29 The Glory of Israel will not lie or change His
mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.
Heb 13:8 Jesus: the same yesterday, today and forever
Immutability is our
basis for depending on the certainty of God always being God.
- We can be sure God is holy. Lev 19:2 Speak to all the congregation of the
sons of Israel and say to them, 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your
God am holy. Ex 15:11 Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic
in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?
- We
can be sure God is eternal.
The same God we discover in the beginning of the book is the same God at
the end of the Book. Ps 90:2
Before the mountains were born or
you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are
God.
- We can be sure God loves us. 1Chron 16:34 Give
thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever. Jer 31:3
I have loved you with an everlasting
love; therefore I have drawn you with
lovingkindness.
- We can be sure of God’s plan for our
lives. Jer 29:11 For I
know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare
and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Ps 33:11
The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to
generation.
- We can be sure of God’s promises. 2Co 1:20 For
as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also
through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. Heb
6:17-18 In the same way God, desiring even more
to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose,
interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which
it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have
strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
Knowing God doesn’t
change provides us with a life anchor. An anchor that holds us steady even in
the storm. When many voices are shouting “Believe this. Think this way. Try
this. This is best, We have the solution,” we can know that God’s message
remains the same.
Our example today is
Paul.
Act
27:1-10 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy,
they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the
Augustan cohort named Julius. And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which
was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to sea
accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon;
and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends
and receive care. From there we put out to sea and sailed under the
shelter of Cyprus because the winds were contrary. When we had sailed
through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in
Lycia. There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy,
and he put us aboard it. When we had sailed slowly for a good many days,
and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the
shelter of Crete, off Salmone; and with difficulty sailing past it we came
to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. When considerable time had passed
and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them, said to
them, "Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and
great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our
lives."
Paul, how do you know this? “I have
eyes, don’t I? As I see it, this makes sense. All these conditions coming
together can’t be good. We’re going down.” Paul is sharing his opinion. Adding up
all these factors, he’s simply stating the obvious.
Act 27:11-13 But the
centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by
what was being said by Paul. Because the harbor was not suitable for
wintering, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if
somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and
northwest, and spend the winter there. When a moderate south wind came up, supposing that they had attained
their purpose, they weighed anchor and began
sailing along Crete, close inshore.
Based on what? It just feels right.
And if it feels right, then it must be right. We have come to a consensus
of opinion. We all agree. Majority rules. Our opinion is more important to us
than your opinion.
Act 27:14-15 But before
very long there rushed down from the land a violent wind, called
Euraquilo; and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven
along.
Opinions can’t withstand the strength
of the forces against them. This storm is more than their opinions can
handle. Amazing how quickly our confidence can faulter in a storm.
Act 27:16 Running
under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get
the ship's boat under
control.
They’ve lost control. Actually,
they lost control when they left Crete. They lost control when they acted on
their opinion. A rule for steel workers on high rise buildings: don’t trust
the wind.
Act 27:17-18 After
they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship;
and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and in this
way let themselves be driven along. The next day as we were being
violently storm-tossed, they began to jettison the cargo;
They lost their purpose – the cargo.
The merchandise they were shipping was their purpose to be on this journey in
the first place. The cargo held highest value. But realize, value changes in a
storm. What was once most important now is worthless. Opinion cannot support
a person’s purpose.
Act 27:19 and
on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own
hands.
Ship’s tackle was the hoists and
ropes that helped them sail the ship. When you’ve lost control, you find what
you used to rely on for direction no longer works.
Act 27:20 Since
neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our
being saved was gradually abandoned.
Hope was the last thing thrown
overboard. Hope, like faith, cannot function on opinion. It needs something
more dependable.
Act 27:21-22 When
they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and
said, "Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail
from Crete and incurred this damage and loss.
“Paul, you told us before we’d all
die. Now you say we won’t. What’s the deal? Can’t you make up your mind?” No,
Paul is adjusting himself and his circumstances from opinion to conviction.
How?
Act 27:23-25 For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I
serve stood before me, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must
stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing
with you.' Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it
will turn out exactly as I have been told.
There it is! I have a word from the
Lord, I have God’s promise and I will stand on it. Paul found solid ground in
the midst of a storm-tossed sea.
Act 27:26 But
we must run aground on a certain island.
But I thought a word from God would
free us from the consequences of our actions or the actions of others against
us, or stop what’s going on. Remember, sometimes God takes us out of the storm, but more often, God
takes us through the storm.
Act 27:27-31 But when the fourteenth night came, as we
were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began
to surmise that they were approaching some land. They took soundings and
found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another
sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. Fearing that we might
run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and
wished for daybreak. But as the sailors were trying to escape from the
ship and had let down the ship's boat into the sea, on the pretense of
intending to lay out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and
to the soldiers, "Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves
cannot be saved."
This is God’s doing and
self-effort will not save the day.
Acts 27:32-34 Then the soldiers cut away the
ropes of the ship's boat and let it fall away. Until the day was
about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food, saying,
"Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and
going without eating, having taken nothing. Therefore I encourage you to
take some food, for this is for your preservation, for not a hair from the head
of any of you will perish."
Paul, you are so sure of things you
cannot control. How can you guarantee no one will drown? Because God, who
doesn’t lie, has spoken and said we’d all get safely to land. I’m standing on
that promise.
Act 27:35-44 Having said
this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke
it and began to eat. All of them were encouraged and
they themselves also took food. All of us in the ship were two hundred and
seventy-six persons. When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing
out the wheat into the sea. When day came, they could not recognize the
land; but they did observe a bay with a beach, and they resolved to drive the
ship onto it if they could. And casting off the anchors, they left them in
the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders; and
hoisting the foresail to the wind, they were heading for the beach. But striking a reef where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and
the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves. The soldiers' plan
was to kill the prisoners, so that none of
them would swim away and escape; but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from
their intention, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard
first and get to land, and the rest should
follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And
so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.
Paul started with an opinion that was reasonable.
Circumstances agreed. The consensus of the passengers supported it. No one
would have disputed it. That’s what it looked like, yet it wasn’t true.
He changed his opinion when He received God’s Word. Once
he had God’s word, because of his confidence in a God who doesn’t change, Paul switched
from opinion to conviction.
Faith can only work when driven by conviction of God’s
unchanging faithfulness – His immutability. Whenever we say, “I can’t believe
that, I can’t do that, I can’t accept that,” we’re operating from opinion
rather than conviction of who our God is. We cannot stand on opinion. We must
stand on our conviction that God’s promises are true.
Anne Graham Lotz, Billy Graham’s daughter, wrote in Storming the Gates of Heaven: The key is
not to view God through the lens of our circumstances, but to view our
circumstances through the lens of God love and purpose – which do not change.
TAKEAWAYS:
- If we were honest, many of our beliefs are opinions rather than convictions.
- As a result, our belief system is weaker than it should be.
- Confidence cannot operate from opinion. It must come from conviction.
- What we believe we do. All else is religious talk.
No comments:
Post a Comment