True Belief is Borne Out in Action

Do you have a conviction about something? Do your actions verify that conviction? Do you openly tell people one thing (your “official” position), yet, behind closed doors you confide to your inner circle what you “really” believe? Are you bold in private, but choose your words so carefully in public that your real convictions, beliefs and positions are lost in your political correctness and diplomacy?

These words from Sam Waldron are directly addressing true faith as it relates to salvation, but I think they can properly be applied to other areas of a Christian’s beliefs and convictions as well. He says that,  “saving faith is sometimes viewed as a simple conviction of the truth because the Bible assumes that if we are really convinced of the truth of something, we will respond appropriately.” I don’t think it’s a stretch to take that principle and apply it to other areas of our life, do you? I mean, if we truly are convinced of the truth of something, shouldn’t our actions be consistent with that conviction?

Consider this example from Waldron in his exposition of the 1689 LBC:

The conviction that the building we are in is on fire will lead, if it is genuine, to the commitment to escape from it…there are people who say that they are convinced of certain things but do not act appropriately…The kind of so-called conviction that does not lead you to use the fire escape from a burning building [is no conviction at all]. – p.187

Waldron then makes a pretty direct statement:

Commitment is the test of true conviction. If you say that you believe the Bible, your life must be radically altered by its truths. They will lead to a whole-souled commitment to Christ as Savior and Lord. If they do not, your faith is a sham.

Granted, Waldron is talking about saving faith, but does this principle not also apply to convictions we say we have about other things as well? If we are truly convicted about something (and I am thinking more here of biblical issues that relate to doctrine and theology), won’t we be committed to that conviction to the point of being willing to endure personal loss (possible scorn, ridicule, and even hardship) for the sake of being faithful to what we tell our closest confidants we really believe?

Something for me personally to ponder, anyway, and make sure that when I say I believe something, my actions confirm what I say I believe.