When we no longer feel conviction, it stems from a lack of applying God's Word to our lives. It becomes possible to deceive ourselves from a lack of the Word because we are no longer able to discern our own motives. Sometimes we may have the right actions, but the wrong motives. The Bible calls this--being a Pharisee. Doing the right thing for the wrong reason. There is an Adventures in Odyssey episode titled ‘Rights, Wrongs, and Reasons’ my sisters and I often listened to growing up. I still like to revisit it from time to time. It serves as a reminder to analyze my motives. In this episode Mr. Whitaker uses the account in the book of Second Samuel of Uzzah and the Ark Of The Covenant. It may seem strange to some that God struck down Uzzah for trying to save the Ark from falling off of the cart because to most it would have been the correct action to take, right? Wrong. God specifically commanded them not to touch the Ark. He did what he thought was right despite of what God had actually commanded. It always makes me think of the Pharisees in the new testament. They did everything that was right, but with wrong motives. The Pharisees were obedient to the letter of the law, while forgetting the Spirit of the law-- which is love. Jesus is constantly clashing with these men who aren't aligning their hearts with God's true law. They appear outwardly to be righteous, yet inwardly posses hearts of darkness. The Word discerns and exposes the true motives of our heart. Hebrews 4:12 says, "it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." When our true thoughts and motives are exposed we feel what is called 'conviction.' We can begin to see that we are wrong because we are aligning our thoughts and motives next to Truth. It’s like checking your test answers with the answer key. James 1:23-24 says doing this is like looking at ourselves in a mirror, at who we really are. Seeing our deviations from truth--the things we need to change. Then when we put down the mirror we forget about those things and no longer care to change them because we can no longer see them. It's sort of an "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" concept. When we put down the mirror, the conviction leaves and we are left still walking contrary to God and His Word.
What people don't realize is that deception is a two way mirror. We will begin to see and judge faults in others that are actually a reflection of what is inside of us. When the lights are turned off we can see other’s problems so clearly; but when the light comes on we are left standing in front of our own reflection. The Word and the Spirit working together produce growth and true change in our hearts. The Word gives us instruction on what to change, the Spirit gives us the power to change it. We look at ourselves everyday in a natural mirror to check our appearance; we want to make sure we look right so people don't think we are unclean or out of order. I wonder if we were to look in a spiritual mirror everyday, what would we see? What would people say about the way our spiritual man looks? The Word is a spiritual mirror and we must check our spiritual man daily to make sure we are clean and kempt. How long has it been since you've taken a glance at yourself in the mirror? When was the last time you felt conviction from God? If we are truly examining our spirits daily we will find conviction from God everyday. Maybe it's an attitude we need to change, or an action we need to start or stop doing. No one person is perfect. There is something we can change everyday. We will not be perfect until the Lord comes; so, if you cannot find anything to change, my suggestion would be to look a little harder. There will always be something we can work on-- "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."
We are instructed to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling because at the end of days we will stand alone before our Creator and nothing will be hid. We will see ourselves for what we are and will be judged accordingly. God has granted us this time of grace to become the bride that can stand before him without shame, with nothing to hide. I encourage you to dive into His Word daily; study, find out what it is He wants from you. What does He want you to do for him? Whatever “that” is, do it with your whole heart. After all, when you are completely in love with someone you would do anything to please them... take time out of the day God has given you to find out what pleases Him. Find out what kind of bride he is searching for and do everything you can to become that bride.
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