Start Where You AreSample

Conviction 

When you were in your mother’s womb, preparing to make your grand entrance into the world, her family and friends anticipated your arrival and showered her with love. After you were born, the cameras flashed and phone calls blasted from coast to coast. The message spread that you had finally arrived. You were all that and a bag of chips!

Sadly, I know this isn’t the case for everyone reading this right now—but wait! Here’s a truth you can joyfully grasp and embrace: even if your parents and grandparents didn’t celebrate your birth, God did. I love the words David shared in Psalm 27:10, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” 

The day you were born was a miracle, even if your family circumstances were messy. And no matter what’s happened since then, you’re still an amazing gift not only to the world but especially to God. Jesus was actively engaged in every waking moment of your existence. He came to give you a new spiritual birth that will radically transform you from the inside out, from who you were into who you were created to be.

God is a Creator, not a duplicator. There are so many who need the hero God has placed inside you. You were born to awaken and free your hero from the confines of your past and walk into God’s acceptance so you can leave your mark on this world for Jesus. You are supposed to be here—on this earth, in this place—for such a time as this. People you’ve loved deeply may have turned their backs on you, but not God. No matter who may have rejected you, you are safe in God’s loving arms.

Accepting the truth of our God-given worth is not easy—it takes conviction. And conviction is the opposite of cool. The culture of cool has utterly consumed our hearts and laid the conviction to pursue the cross on the back burner. The culture of cool is a harsh master, and its weapon is rejection.

We may be worthy in God’s eyes, but when we’re caught up in the culture of cool, we sure won’t feel worthy. Thankfully, the culture of cool isn’t the costume we’re called to wear. The cross is what we are called to take up daily and put on our backs. Not all heroes wear cool capes. Mine wore a thorn crown and a cross. What about yours?

Lord, may I give up my need to be seen as cool for Your gift of conviction and find joy in pleasing You over pleasing people.