Meditate On
…He will convict the world of sin, and of
righteousness…of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness,
because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.
John 16:8–10
The
Spirit Convicts You Of Righteousness
When I got saved as a young man, I remember how right
after praying the sinners’ prayer, a counselor asked me, “Do you know what you
have inside you now?” I said, “No.” He said, “Once you are saved, you have the
Holy Spirit inside you.”
Then, he said to me, “The Holy Spirit is the ding-dong
bell inside you. He’s there so that when you do wrong, He’ll go, ‘Ding-dong!
Ding-dong!’” And from then on, I felt like there was always somebody watching
me, not to catch me doing right, but to catch me doing wrong. I began to see
the Holy Spirit as a faultfinder!
I’m so glad that I know better today. The Holy Spirit is
not a “ding-dong bell,” and certainly not a faultfinder. He doesn’t convict
believers of their sins. On the contrary, He convicts believers of their
righteousness in Christ!
Today’s verses show us that the Holy Spirit convicts the
world (non-believers) of one particular sin—the sin of not believing in Jesus.
We believers cannot be convicted of this sin of unbelief because we already
believe in Jesus. What the Holy Spirit does convict us of is our righteousness.
God gave us the Holy Spirit to remind us that we are righteous in Christ
because of His sacrifice.
Beloved, thank God that the Holy Spirit is in you to
convict you of righteousness. When you fail, He is the warm, encouraging voice
that points you to the cross and says, “Jesus’ blood has removed this sin. You
are still righteous.” He gives you the strength to get up on your feet again
and to keep walking with God. And when you know that you are righteous, you
will live a life that honors God!
BLESSINGS
JOSEPH PRINCE
