BCP- Paul was not kidding around

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul was a player. Not player like high school kids these days understand Player but player in that he lived the walk. Paul was convicted. It is funny, there is a sense where I wonder if modern folks live as convicted. I heard recently that the only type of conviction some modern church goers believe in is the type that occur through courts of law.

Paul was a player. He believed. He set out. He was taunted, arrested, beaten, scorned, starved, and almost drowned convinced of the gospel. And I wonder what came first, the conviction which led to his great travels or the travels based on a smaller conviction which grew into the conviction that is revealed here. He states that "I am convinced". Now it is obvious that as a Pharisee he was not convinced in Christ. One can even posit the idea that he becomes convinced through his conversion. His conversion would lead to a stronger state of conviction. But how much of his conviction as he expresses in the Epistle, grows out of his experience of living a Christian life and trusting that God would provide. I would guess that Paul was not as convinced when he first came to the faith as he was at his death.

Conviction I believe grows. I believe we are led to conviction.