I just finished reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography. Talk about living by your convictions. He spent 27 years in prison for protesting against the government in power that instituted Apartheid. He was directly involved in issuing in justice for his people, and indeed, all people who were citizens of South Africa. He said, “My idea was that our movement should be a great tent that included as many people as possible (Mandela, 1996, p. 64).” Mandela was a modern day example of how God wants us to live out our convictions. Biblically, God shows us people who lived by their convictions such as Abraham, Peter and Paul.
Abraham
Abraham, the founding father of the Jewish nation, is just that because he lived by his convictions. Abraham listened to God when He appeared to him at Haran and told him to leave his family and go to the land God showed him. We’ve heard the story so many times, that we really think to ourselves – so what? God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation and that He would bless him. However, what we don’t realize, is that believing in one god, was not in Abraham’s culture. He grew up in Ur, which was a Sumerian culture. In this culture, people were polytheistic. For Abraham to turn from polytheism to monotheism could only happen because he believed the promises of God – Yahweh.
Even though Abraham didn’t live a perfect life, he did live by his conviction that Yahweh was the one true God. Never does the Bible mention that Abraham ever worshipped another God after he entered into a covenant with Yahweh. Abraham worshipping only one God was not normal in his day, and set him apart from others in his culture. Abraham’s righteous faith in the one true God was his life conviction.
Peter
Peter and his brother Andrew were the first two disciples called by Jesus. Andrew had been a follower of John the Baptist (John 1:40), so most likely the two brothers discussed John’s message of the coming Messiah. When Jesus saw the brothers fishing, He called to them to follow Him. Amazingly, they immediately stopped fishing and followed Him. Peter and Andrew went from becoming basic fishermen to fishers of men.
While following Jesus, Peter became one of Jesus’ most trusted disciples. This wasn’t because he was the most intelligent or the most perfect. Rather, it was because once Peter understood a Godly concept, that concept became integral to Peter’s convictions. Even though Peter often failed when he first considered a conviction, he always got back up, brushed himself off and hung on tightly to his convictions.
Consider the time Peter walked toward Jesus on the water. Peter had just witnessed Jesus feed more than 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread. After the sermon Jesus and the disciples wanted to cross the lake to the other side. Jesus told them to go ahead, and He would disperse the crowd. Afterwards, he stayed to pray, and didn’t join the disciples until the wee hours of the morning, when the boat was already a distance from the shore. The disciples see Jesus walking on the water towards them, and think He is a ghost. He tells them, it is only He, and not to be afraid. Peter, wanting to make sure it is Jesus and not a ghost, yells out to Jesus, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He [Jesus] said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him… (Mathew 14:28-31a).
Peter jumped out of the boat because he knew Jesus could perform miracles, and he was absolutely sure Jesus would hold him up. Unfortunately, Peter took his eyes off Jesus and started focusing on the wind. This was when he started to sink. Regardless, Jesus still held Peter up. Even though Peter faltered in his conviction of Jesus’ ability to work miracles, he learned that Jesus still saved him. This failure helped Peter learn to keep his eye on Jesus and not be concerned about what is going on around him.
Because Peter eventually learned this lesson, he was outspoken concerning the Gospel. This was the conviction he would live the rest of his life for. Peter allowed himself to be used by the Holy Spirit to bring about 3,000 people to Christ on the day of Pentacost.
Peter showed his conviction of trusting Jesus and the Holy Spirit when he was sent a vision of commanding him to eat unclean food. Shortly after the vision, men arrived to bring him to Cornelius, a Gentile centurion, who was told through a vision to summon Peter. This time, Peter, keeping his eye on Jesus, even without understanding what was about to happen, goes with Cornelius’ men to his house. While Peter was speaking to Cornelius’ household about Jesus, the Holy Spirit entered the people of the household. Peter, told them to be baptized, realizing that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah for the Jewish people only, but for all those who believed Jesus to be their Savior, regardless of nationality. Peter’s conviction that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit direct our lives allowed him to understand that the Gospel was for all humanity.
Paul
I wonder if God didn’t give Paul an extra dose of passion. Whatever his conviction, he followed it passionately. When He worked against the church, he didn’t just willy nilly persecute it. Rather, he zealously “…began ravaging the church, entering house after house, dragging off men and women… (Acts 8:3).” He then went to the high priest “and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem (Act 9:2).” We see that Paul was methodical and detailed concerning his persecution of the church.
Once Paul was visited by Jesus, and understood that what he was doing was wrong, his convictions concerning the new church did an about-face. However, his passion in spreading the Good News was just as great. He made three missionary journeys, in which he not only helped raise funds for the poor in the Jerusalem church, but also preached the Gospel to the Gentiles. He was shipwrecked, stoned, imprisoned and even bitten by a poisonous snake while on his journeys – all for the sake of his conviction that Jesus is the Savior and the only way to eternal life.
These men show us that living by our convictions isn’t easy. However, these men lived out their beliefs every day. In the end, they all stood for justice, love, peace, faith and inclusiveness of all mankind. They all stood out among their people because they dared to live out their convictions. Isn’t time we Christians stand out in society because we are determined to live by our convictions?
Resources:
Mandela, N. 1996. Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography. New York: Little, Brown & Co., Inc.
Photo Credit: Neal, L. August 28, 2007. AFP/Getty Images.
