When Does a Conviction Truly Become a Conviction?

by Jerry Long, Minister of Pastoral Care

As I write this article the athletic competitions of the 2024 Paris Olympics are in full swing. I love watching the athletes, competing either individually or as a team, as all their efforts and hard work combine with their innate talents to create remarkable athletic feats. Olympic history is filled with examples of such athletic prowess. Occasionally, as icing on the cake, an athlete combines his innate talents, hard work, and efforts with extraordinary personal character to create a truly remarkable athletic feat.

I was reminded of one such Olympian as I read online the July 26, 2024, Breakpoint Daily Commentary (www.colsoncenter.org) written by John Stonestreet and Jared Hayden.  It’s entitled Eric Liddell’s Legacy: 100 Years Later. Liddell’s story was immortalized in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire, one of the most inspiring movies I’ve ever seen.  Not only was Liddell an exceptional track athlete, he also was selected to play for Scotland’s international rugby team seven times.  Besides his athletic prowess, there was also his spiritual prowess – his deep and abiding faith that colored how he lived day in and day out. Liddell was a devout Christian and son of Scottish Presbyterian missionaries to China. Part of his belief system was his conviction that he would never run a race on a Sunday because he believed Sunday was the Christian Sabbath and thus a day of rest.

It was during the 1924 Paris Olympics that these two worlds ran headlong into each other.  Liddell went to Paris expecting to run in the 100-meter dash – his best event. However, when the schedule for track events was published, he learned that the 100-meter race was to be run on a Sunday.  He dropped out of the race, causing much consternation among many people – especially the press. Some called him a traitor to Scotland.  Liddell stood his ground and did not run the race.  However, he did enter the 200-meter and 400-meter races.  Neither were races he’d trained to run at the Olympics. Remarkably, he took bronze in the 100 and gold in the 400.  He not only won the 400, but he also finished five meters ahead of his closest competitor.

No debate, Eric Liddell was a man of genuine convictions.   According to various online dictionaries that means Eric Liddell possessed firmly held beliefs and opinions that would have direct input and influence on the decisions he made and the way he lived.  That means that he held beliefs that were not likely to change, and that were reinforced by strong feelings that he was right.  Convictions are set in stone while opinions give wiggle room for further discussion.

Three important things to understand about convictions:

1. Convictions must be programmed.  No one is born with deeply held beliefs.  What we conclude about the experiences we have with our senses, about the interactions we have with people and the broken world around us, and what we choose to believe or not believe from those who claim to speak truth into our lives, inform the convictions we hold at any given time.  And because our convictions are programmable, they can be reprogrammed with a delete/add action as we move through life.
2. Convictions play an important role in the development of our consciences.  Not only do they inform our consciences, they are also the foundation upon which our consciences are developed.  Take Eric Liddell for instance.  Because it was his deeply held belief that he should not run races on Sunday (his conviction), and because that deeply held belief informed his conscience, to run on Sunday would have been a violation of his conscience – inviting the guilt that comes with such a violation.  Unless Liddell at some point had changed his convictions about Sunday races, his conscience would have continued to fight any thought of doing so.  
3. It matters greatly where we find the Truth that informs our convictions.  Because convictions are programmable, and because they are so foundational to the development of our consciences, it matters where we get the Truth that helps us draw wise conclusions about what we experience with our senses, and about the interactions we have with people and the broken world around us.  Put garbage truth into your convictions and you’ll get garbage guidance out of your conscience.  Put true truth into your convictions and you’ll get wise guidance out of your conscience.  Proverbs 3:5-6 speaks well to this: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make straight your path.”

One last thought. When does a conviction truly become a conviction?  It’s when the circumstances of life give you the opportunity to violate your conscience at the point of that conviction, and you stand strong and refuse to do so. Until then it is a pending conviction. What better example do we need than Eric Liddell in the 1924 Paris Olympics?