God’s conviction is His way of drawing us closer to Him. When you’re convicted of sin God is inviting you to restore fellowship with Him. Conviction brings truth, accuses us of our wrongs and rebukes our sins. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit. God is always tugging on our heart strings in order for us to draw closer to Him. He loves us and wants to have a personal relationship with each and everyone of us! This is great news that our Heavenly father loves us so much He is willing to convict us. (Acts 24:16). (John 8:8), (Titus 1:9), (John 8:45-46).
Hebrews 13:18 “Pray for us; we are convinced that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.”
Guilt is an emotional response to wrong doing. When we disobey God we should feel the Lords convection. Colossians 2:16-23 talks about freedom from human rules. There are four forms of false guilt that are made by man. These forms of guilt are not made by God. We need to watch out for them especially as Christians. The first form is Perfection or trying to be perfect all the time. As Christians we need to live for Christ, not our own standards we place on ourselfs. Secondly, don’t go around trying to please everyone all the time. I struggle with this one this most. It always just turns out to bringing me more guilt in the end.
The third form of man conviction is another form of religion called Legalism. Simply put, it’s man made rules. We need to be following God’s rules. The fourth is perfectionism. I tend to struggle with this one a lot too. I go around trying to do everything perfectly and when it doesn’t work out I feel guilty. God doesn’t want us to live in guilt. He wants us to come to Him and break the shackles of guilt off of us! Let’s break free from human rules today and obey God’s rules together!
Colossians 2:16-23 “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. 20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”
Prayer Starter: Lord, I pray today that the Holy Spirit shows me what I’m doing that is displeasing to God. Please let the Holy Spirit guide me and others who read this today. Please help us to have the courage not to live by man made rules but your rules Lord. Amen.
