Meditate On This

Meditate On

…He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness…of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.

John 16:8–10

The Spirit Convicts You Of Righteousness

When I got saved as a young man, I remember how right after praying the sinners’ prayer, a counselor asked me, “Do you know what you have inside you now?” I said, “No.” He said, “Once you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit inside you.”
Then, he said to me, “The Holy Spirit is the ding-dong bell inside you. He’s there so that when you do wrong, He’ll go, ‘Ding-dong! Ding-dong!’” And from then on, I felt like there was always somebody watching me, not to catch me doing right, but to catch me doing wrong. I began to see the Holy Spirit as a faultfinder!
I’m so glad that I know better today. The Holy Spirit is not a “ding-dong bell,” and certainly not a faultfinder. He doesn’t convict believers of their sins. On the contrary, He convicts believers of their righteousness in Christ!
Today’s verses show us that the Holy Spirit convicts the world (non-believers) of one particular sin—the sin of not believing in Jesus. We believers cannot be convicted of this sin of unbelief because we already believe in Jesus. What the Holy Spirit does convict us of is our righteousness. God gave us the Holy Spirit to remind us that we are righteous in Christ because of His sacrifice.
Beloved, thank God that the Holy Spirit is in you to convict you of righteousness. When you fail, He is the warm, encouraging voice that points you to the cross and says, “Jesus’ blood has removed this sin. You are still righteous.” He gives you the strength to get up on your feet again and to keep walking with God. And when you know that you are righteous, you will live a life that honors God!