Engage Truth Prayerfully

BY Amanda Bible Williams

I’m always late. Always.

I know, it’s incredibly annoying. Trust me, I’m annoyed, too. But this is one of the things you need to know about me if we’re going to be new friends. 

You also need to know about the piles. There are certain dark corners of our house where we stash, you know—stuff. Stacks of papers to be sorted, piles of assorted things to be put away, boxes of CD’s we don’t know what to do with because we can’t bear to fully embrace the digital music age (raise your hand if you’re still mourning the death of the mixtape). The hallway of our home doesn’t have a light in it, so it’s dark and a little gloomy. This drove me crazy until I realized it helped disguise the piles of folded laundry in the corner. 

There’s a kind of unsettled comfort in keeping the messy parts of our lives out of the light. There is comfort, but not peace. When you and I open our Bibles and engage God’s Word, we are also encountering the Living Word, Jesus Christ. We are encountering Light Himself.

Open your Bible to John 1:1–5, and read closely the famous opening lines from John’s gospel. Go back through the passage a second time, this time circling each use of “Word” and underlining the words “life” and “light.”

When we immerse ourselves in the pure truth of God’s Word, its brightness will inevitably reveal our heart’s darkest corners. Like those unlit corners of my messy house, it won’t be pretty. But this conviction of sin—of the heart’s tendency to darkness—is another important role of the Holy Spirit. When we invite the Holy Spirit through prayer to be our guide and companion, we are also inviting Him to bring us into the light of Jesus. It is there that we can confess our sin, repent, receive forgiveness, and be reconciled to God.

Read Proverbs 3:3–12. What can we learn from verses 11–12 about the gift of conviction by the Holy Spirit?

Most of my life, I assumed becoming a “good Christian” was the goal: doing, or appearing to do, all the right things and keeping sin at bay or at least out of the light. Yet, as we travel through the pages of Scripture and grow in the knowledge of God, we find our need for the Gospel does not magically become smaller. Instead, we more clearly see the enormity of our need. Our salvation is an order so tall that only Christ’s perfection can measure up.

Opening our Bibles every day is hard work. It requires discipline and obedience, and it brings us face to face with the ugly reality of our sin. It brings us to our knees in repentance, asking once again for the light of Christ to overcome our darkness. And He does. 

Today, let’s ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of conviction.