Today's Devotional

February 2,  2006

 

Subject:  The Difference Conviction Makes 

Romans 7:9 - "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."

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In a conversation with a friend the other day, she recounted how she used to smoke and drink and use foul language.  All of it seemed to be without much conscience of what she was doing at the time.  However the person that we now know seems so far removed from that that it is hard to even imagine.  That's the difference that conviction makes in our lives. 

The law entered the scene to show us our sinfulness and it was a more outward manifestation of what God was going to do with us in giving us His indwelling Holy Spirit.  I like the way the verse above puts it, "I was alive once..."  We often think of our past life and how we thought we were really living and then Jesus comes along and gives us this conviction thing through His Holy Spirit and we realize that we are sinful and wrong and at odds with the life God meant for us.

Today are you really alive or are you simply living without conscience and having a "good" time doing it?  To be alive in Christ is to sense our sinfulness.  When we do that, we see that we have to die to that sinful lifestyle and for those who die the first death, there won't be a second death.  God's not a party-pooper.  He wants you to come to the really big party He's got planned for you.  

Carlen