I walked into a local financial institution and was chatting with the teller when the subject of the employees dressing for Halloween came up. As humbly as she could, she told me "I don't celebrate Halloween. I just feel like it represents evil and I'm not comfortable with it so I won't be dressing up with them." The look on her face was a mixture of conviction and "uh oh, should I have said that?"
Now, I'm not completely sure where I stand on Halloween. Dressing up and doing all that stuff wasn't what led me to dark decisions throughout my life but at the same time, I think we must be careful we are not giving enough weight to the meaning of certain things. I can appreciate her feelings towards Halloween and I might lean more towards agreeing with her today than I used to.
Here's what impressed me though - her conviction and willingness to humbly and meekly share it with me. I like people who are convicted because for too long I have been wishy-washy. I may have believed something but didn't get into with people I didn't know really well and was comfortable telling something that was out of the norm. It reminded me of this video I've posted before (Penn gets a Bible).
I want to share my conviction. I want to be more authentic about my love for Christ. I want to share the Good News more and trust that God loves me for doing it even if the person I'm talking to doesn't. Why? Because it might be the only time that person hears a testimony about God's love for his creation.
I appreciated the bank teller's conviction and I will be sure to let her know the next time I'm there.
Grace and peace to you.
2 comments:
You made me think, as always. Here is a favorite quote of mine: "Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct."
I go back and forth on this one myself. I do think that context determines meaning more even than original intent (I hope that makes sense). Very, very few people dress up for Halloween with any inkling of practicing "darkness."
And yet, I like that the bank teller had conviction, too. This would certainly qualify as "Romans 14" issue, in my mind.
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