Passing On Conviction

Do you ever wonder if your children are forming conviction? I don’t mean convictions. Convictions are personal principles, like whether you celebrate Christmas, wear dresses only, or what movies you choose to watch. They are the personal guidelines the Holy Spirit gives each of us according to our spiritual maturity. Convictions are important, but not as important as conviction. Conviction goes beyond knowing right from wrong. It is the passion, the zeal of what you believe and how strongly you will stand for it. Convictions ebb and flow as we grow in grace; conviction, however, is abiding. Scripture-based conviction is the grit that looks a scorning, God-hating culture in the eye without flinching.

So how is conviction birthed in the next generation? As a young woman, who prays often for more conviction, I’m still searching for that answer. But when I reflect on how my parents’ conviction influenced me growing up, two characteristics stand out to me: their conviction was real and its source was Scripture.

The conviction I saw in my parents was truly their own. Not once do I recall them adopting a stand to please others. In fact, I remember many, many times when my parents conviction incited criticism from others — mostly from other Christians. But they never compromised. Can you imagine how attractive such authenticity is to a child? Not only does it increase a child’s trust in his parents, but it also emboldens him to stand strong in his own conviction.

By far though, the strength of my parents’ conviction — and the influence it had on me — was rooted in the Bible. This is so simple, yet so hard. It is so easy to listen to the verses a teacher, pastor or respected homeschool leader use to back their conviction and embrace it as our own without doing the grueling work of searching the Scripture ourselves. But if we want conviction that is worth passing on, we can’t delegate the dividing of the word of truth to others. We must always be asking, is my conviction built on the Bible? Do I test what men say against what God has said, or swallow it whole? Yes, we need the ministers of the word, but it’s not their job to search out the truth for us. When I’m called to defend what I know is true, I need a certainty greater than “thus saith my denomination” or “thus saith my favorite Bible teacher”. I need “thus saith the LORD and here is the Book to prove it”. And that is what a child needs, too. If our conviction will be worth passing on, it must be founded on authenticity and, most of all, the Word of God.

Kenzi Knapp desires to proclaim the reconciliation of Mankind through the blood of Jesus Christ. A homeschool graduate currently enrolled in God’s Great Course of Faith, Kenzi lives with her family on an Ozark homestead. She enjoys writing, biking, playing the piano and mountain ocarina, studying history and encourages young women to build mission-centered businesses at her blog, Honey Rock Hills.

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