What Matters Most Part 3...

We all have convictions, persuasions, and opinions. Convictions are those things that we are willing to part company over. Persuasions are those things that we are convinced of and will argue but we are unwilling to break a relationship over. Opinions are things we think are true but will not argue for. When I was young I had many, many convictions. Now, many of my convictions have become persuasions and a number of persuasions have become opinions.


In 2 Timothy 3 Paul writes,

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

As I continue to work through what my convictions are I began with the resurrection, then went on to the Trinity, and now I have come to the Scriptures. The Scriptures are so very important because they reveal to us who God is. In Hebrews 1 the writer says,

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

In Romans 1 Paul tells us that God has made himself known through his creation. Yet that knowledge has been suppressed through humanity's brokenness. It is through the Scriptures that we have God's special revelation as opposed to his general revelation. When we read the Scriptures we gain a clarity of who God is that we cannot find elsewhere.

My conviction about the Scriptures is that they are the authoritative word of God. This means that they are the primary authority to which the Christian sets themselves under. Our consciences are bound by Scripture first and everything else second. Authority is the critical component as far as I'm concerned at the level of conviction. If the Scriptures are not authoritative then we will struggle to know God and we begin to create him in our likeness, this leads to idolatry.

Without the special revelation of the Scriptures we can't possibly know God. Everything would be based in tradition and philosophy. While these are important they originate in the minds of men and men are broken. They need to be corrected and they are corrected as they come under the authority of Scripture.

Because they are authoritative we are driven to study, understand, and teach them. I am passionate about the Scriptures because they point me to who God is and as I know who he is I grow in intimacy with him. As I grow in intimacy with God I find that I must worship him and glorify him because he alone is worthy.