Theology In Country Music:

I love the song “Love Me If You Can” by Toby Keith.  The chorus has a line that deeply resonates with me.  “I’m a man of my convictions, call me wrong call me right.”  In this day and age there are not many men and women of conviction.  There are many with a convenience, but not many with conviction.  One of my Bible College teachers once quoted: “One man with a conviction is better than one with a convenience.”

Jesus was such a man. Christ was a man of conviction.  Many of us love to think of Jesus as some namby pamby wimp who spoke of nothing but love and peace.  Jesus was also a man of conviction who did not shy away from a good fight.  Jesus called the religious leaders of his day a brood of vipers, and white washed tombs and hypocrites.  (See Matthew chapter 23).  Here was a man who looked demons in the eye and cast them out.  Here was a man who looked death in the eye and rose from the dead.  Here was a man who endured unspeakable torture on the way to his death on the cross, yet he endured it all so we could partake of salvation.

I am not saying we are to be unbending and rigid people.  I am saying when it comes to the important things we should be steadfast in our faith and be uncompromising on those issues.  Jesus boldly proclaimed :

John 14:6 ⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Jesus was a man of conviction who never compromised on the above statement.  You can call him wrong or right, but he did not waver.  Jesus knew that because he is the only way to God, he had to go to the cross,  He did not compromise on that position.  As believers, we also must be people of conviction when it comes to the gospel.  We have to tell others that Jesus is not one of many ways to God, but the only way to HIM.

Until next time,

be a person of conviction.  Remember if you are person of conviction people will hate you if they want to and love you if they can

pastor greg t.