100% Convinced vs. 100% Committed
by Rich Deem

People will often say that they cannot accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior until they are 100% convinced or certain that He is who He said He is or that the Bible is true. This level of proof is not possible in this universe and is unreasonable. Even in science, the standard level of proof is 95%. Requiring that one is 100% certain of the reliability of the Bible is just an excuse for unbelief.

The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific RevolutionThere is a difference between being 100% convinced that the entire Bible is true and being 100% committed1 to Jesus on the basis of what we know is true. We cannot know with 100% certainty that all of the Bible is true, especially since there are many prophecies which have not yet been fulfilled. However, from what we know to be true, we can make a 100% commitment. We do this every day of our lives in many areas. For example, most of us travel to our place of work. I travel by vanpool and get into the van five days a week committed to going to work, although I do not know with 100% certainty that I will get there. The important thing is to be 100% committed to Jesus.

It is the will of God that everyone believe in His promises and His word.2 If you pray for God to increase your faith and belief, He will do it,3 since He wants your complete confidence4 in Him. Ask Jesus to help you with your unbelief.

The Holy Spirit gives a tremendous testimony to us that our faith in the gospel is true5 and that we have become children of God.6 Before I became a Christian the Holy Spirit was not in my life, although I would occasionally become aware I was not in God�s will. However, when I accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, The Holy Spirit began convicting me of changes I needed to make in my life. The more I have followed the promptings of the Holy Spirit, the more He has revealed to me and the more I know His voice. Every disciple of Jesus Christ is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.7 However, if you do not feel the Holy Spirit in your life, I encourage you to pray to be filled with the Spirit.8

100% Convencido Vs. 100% Comprometido


References Top of page

  1. Love Your God With All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the SoulFrom Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. (Acts 14:26)
  2. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. (Acts 15:7)
    And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God�s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
  3. And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14)
  4. For the Lord will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught. (Proverbs 3:26)
    Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
  5. for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, (1 Thessalonians 1:5-6)
  6. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. (1 John. 4:12-13)
    The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:16)
  7. that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. (John 14:17)
    But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. (Romans 8:11)
    Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
    Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
    Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
    Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. (2 Timothy 1:14)
    Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us?" (James 4:5)
  8. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/convinced.html
Last updated June 5, 2006

 

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