Redefining the Standard

“Well, Johnny, I heard you listening to some contemporary music last night. You know you shouldn’t do that. It will pull you away from God. You must stay away from that heathen music.”

Sound familiar? In some form or another, I’m sure we’ve all dealt with these situations. A well-meaning authority figure questions your music, movies, or overall behavior. But this isn’t a question of your decisions, but rather your personal convictions.

The problem with some people’s view of standards and personal convictions is that they do just that—standardize it. They group everyone in one category and then set before them rigid rules. That’s not what God intended. Yes, God wants us to develop convictions in our lives, but that’s just it; He wants us to develop them. We can’t be told what to believe or be forced to accept a universal set of standards. We must develop them on our own through prayer and time in God’s Word.

Personal convictions cannot be forced on anyone. Many people would like you to believe that developing personal convictions means taking on the convictions of those over you. Not so. This is a false sense of conviction. When you leave those people or those over you fall, you are stuck with their convictions and no firm foundation of your own. When someone challenges your convictions or pokes holes in your theory, who will you run to? Brother so and so, or God’s Word? When things get tough, you will go ultimately to the thing or person upon which your convictions are founded.

Now, in developing your own convictions, you must consider your past life experiences. Okay, let me give you an example. Sam used to be a hardcore rocker before he was saved. He partied, drank, and attended concerts. Now that he’s saved, he’s trying to set up standards and guidelines in his life to help him from falling. He listens to some Christian rock and it causes him to think about his days as a rocker. It draws him back into that lifestyle. This obviously is not a good style of music for him. He must set a conviction in his life that he will stay away from Christian rock. This is all based on his life experience.

Steve, on the other hand, has grown up in a good Christian home and doesn’t have any bad experiences in his past. He loves God, church, and his family. Steve also listens to Christian rock—the same music Sam tried to listen to. But Steve doesn’t have those past experiences surface when he listens to it. He hears the lyrics and takes the message of the song to heart. He is drawn closer to God as he listens to the song. This conviction (or as some would see it as a lack of conviction) is also based on his life experience.

But what many churches and church movements do is they set a universal standard and say that no one is allowed to listen to certain types of music. If God had wanted a universal set of standards, don’t you think He would have given them to us in His Word? He gave us the Ten Commandments (Even then, He doesn’t expect us to keep them! They are a guide to show us our need of Him.) so why wouldn’t He have given us His “Ten Standards” or “Ten Personal Convictions”? This is because there is no set standard that fits everyone.

Personal convictions are developed by the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of each believer. My convictions will be different than yours because number one, we don’t have the same life experiences, and number two, the Holy Spirit moves differently in my life than He does in yours.We shouldn’t criticize someone based on their personal convictions. If we do, we are really criticizing the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. That doesn’t seem smart to me! (Granted, there are people who will take this principle and fail to set any convictions in their life, claiming grace, but that’s another subject, and I seriously doubt they spent time in prayer and meditation before they set those standards. But who’s questioning the work of the Holy Spirit in their life!)

I would challenge you to prayerfully consider your convictions and standards. Have you ever prayed over them for God’s will to be done? If so, then do not listen to those who would try to standardize all convictions. After all, it is you who will be standing to give an account before God, not them.