Hi, this is Pastor Diego. Welcome to the daily five. Thank you for joining us today. This podcast is designed to give you a short daily Five-minute word of encouragement to inspire you to think and act on God's word Hey everyone.
Welcome to today's episode on letting your convictions shape the way you live. Let me start off by Telling you what a conviction is or what kind of conviction I'm talking about. I'm not talking about criminal convictions like in the court I'm talking about a firmly held idea that you have or an opinion something that just guides your everyday decisions Convictions are not based on what feels good or what seems right at the moment. Our convictions are the very foundation that we build our lives upon Living with strong convictions doesn't mean you need to be mean or judgmental when sharing them with other people But we do need to be sure of those convictions Our beliefs our values and moral convictions guide what we think and feel in the decisions that we make in the actions that we take Let's look at a few areas of conviction that are crucial to how we engage with our surrounding culture and the ones I'm going to show you Are just examples of my personal convictions yours convictions may be different, and that's okay I just want to give you an idea on how convictions shape our decisions and our behaviors my number one personal conviction that guides everything that I do in Who I am is that God is supreme.
Let me read from Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 through 18 It says the Sun is the image of the invisible God the first born over all creation for in him All things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities All things have been created through him and for him He is before all things and in him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body the church He is the beginning of the first born among the dead so that in everything he might have supremacy I'm absolutely convinced that God is supreme over all creation, and that's why I worship him. I embrace his attributes He is the Bible says he's omnipresent, which means that he's everywhere at once It says that he's omniscient which means that he's all knowing it says that he's omnipotent Which means he's all powerful and God is good and loving So my number one conviction is that that God is supreme And I don't question God's existence, love or mercy even when my culture does My second conviction one that I live by is that I bet my life on the Bible and believing that it's the unfailing word of God 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 and 17 says all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching Rebuking, correcting and training and righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work I've spent years studying the Bible and I won't let society explain away what God says is true We must stay full of the word of God using it as a guy for our daily lives and the moral basis of our values The third conviction is I try to live holy, but do you know what the word holy really means? It means it's being set apart for God in a way that reflects who God is and what he's about being holy doesn't mean being perfect No one's perfect being holy is trying to imitate God's character through Christ's example and the Holy Spirit's guidance There's two types of holiness. Let me break it down for you number one is when you put your faith in Christ You become holy in position because you become a child of God and the second is a progressive holiness that develops over time This is your personal behavior because it always takes time for your behavior to catch up with your position as a child of God In 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 15 and 16 It says but just as he who called you is holy so be holy and all that you do for it is written be holy because I am holy Holiness requires us to set standards of conduct It means that we thoroughly think through our words our actions and our habits our attitudes at all times because we choose to want to honor God Your convictions will shape the way you speak your behavior the way you think and everything about you Worse than not having healthy convictions is not having any convictions at all If you don't have strong convictions to live by you're gonna fall for anything at any time You'll go with whatever is trending whatever is cool and you'll never make up your mind for yourself The right convictions in my case biblical convictions help guide all of my decisions and that provides me freedom Freedom because I already know how I'm gonna react or what decisions I'm going to take before I find myself in specific situations Apply the word and make today