listen intently

Pastor, you told me to have conviction, but I did not comprehend that fully.
I kept going on and on about wisdom and intelligence, about preaching to the U1s (the intellect agnostics) and you said CONVICTION.
I meditated about it for a while, and the meaning slowly began to surface..
From the book LEFT BEHIND:

Rayford was a pilot. He had paid no attention to his wife when she spoke to him about rapture. Now, he is left behind.

But he is not about to waste his second chance, and neither does he want the others to miss the boat like he did. He had just spoken to the reporter on what he thought of the phenomenon from his perspective as a pilot, whose passengers went missing on his plane. This got the reporter thinking..

“But even more exciting was the possibility that another answer man awaited him in Chicago, a man he trusted simply on the recommendation of a pilot who has seemed to speak the truth with authority.”

Rayford was no intellect nor evangelist, yet he spoke boldly of his new-found faith. That, spoke to me, of CONVICTION.

Tonight, as I went home from cell group. A friend of mine was harping about how it was not possible to be a true Christian, about how corrupt the world is today, and how it was not possible for anyone in any occupation to be true Christians except pastors and full-time church workers. I didn’t like the way he talked about being true Christians, which almost sounded like an excuse.. Anyway, that got me thinking. What (is it) about a True Christian? [He made a mention about Mother Theresa somewhere] Then I remembered yesterday’s Daily Bread:

"He was wounded for our transgressions. —Isaiah 53:5

In our let's-make-everything-okay world we often look at sin and wonder, what's the big deal? After all, our sin isn't so bad. If we lie a little or cheat just a bit—what's the harm? If we gossip some or use coarse language a few times—whom will it hurt? What's so bad about sin?

It's bad because of what it put Jesus through. Yes, our sin was the reason for the torment Jesus suffered as He made His way to the cross—and as He hung on that cross and ultimately died a horrific death.

Of course we can never undo what has been done; that pain can never be reversed. Yet we must understand that if we continue to sin knowingly, we are in effect turning our back on Jesus and His pain. It's as if we're saying that it doesn't matter to us what we put Jesus through, we're going to do what we want. To sin in the light of the cross is to tell Jesus that even His intense suffering has not taught us about the awfulness of sin."

To be a true Christian, let us all try to practise what we preach. Expect no less of yourself what you expect of the world. Disappointments are only as disappointing as your sights.

Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment;....but trust
in GOD, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity.
- Dwight L. Moody

Keep your eyes on God and you'll soon lose sight of your fears. INDEED..