Standing Firm: What to Do When Asked to Yield a Conviction

Do you know why lawyers are being used for lab testing more often than rats? Three reasons: One, there are more lawyers than rats. Two, lab technicians are less attached to lawyers than they are to rats. And, three, there are some things rats just won’t do.

Though only a joke, this does enable the question: Are there some things you just won’t do?

How would you instruct the Christians in the below examples? How would you respond if these scenarios were presented to you?

One Christian businessman received advice from a banker to imitate another businessman in the community who was successful in the same field. “But he’s a crook and you know it,” the businessman told the banker. To this the banker replied, “The issue is the financial bottom line, and he makes a profit.” After a long discussion the businessman said, “I could not do those things and live with myself.” 

One Christian musician, gaining some national attention, was told by a lawyer in the music industry that if his wife continued to resist his rise in the music industry, he ought to drop her. 

A CEO was asked to sell one of the companies at an inflated price, which he knew was wrong, or lose his job. 

Specs called for an eight-inch slab, but the construction manager was instructed to lay six-inch slabs or else. 

A Christian woman was asked by a dreamboat man to marry him, but he didn’t want any part of this Jesus stuff, Bible reading, and churchgoing.

Will We Be Conscientious Objectors and Draw the Line?

We find ourselves standing at a crossroads when our beliefs and values are tested. Yielding a conviction can be tempting, especially when faced with pressure or the enticement of personal gain. However, maintaining our “conscientious objections,” staying true to our faith, reflects Christ’s call on our lives as His followers.

I heard the story of a wealthy man propositioning a gorgeous woman with, “For a million dollars will you go to bed with me?” She said, “Yes, for a million dollars.” He then asked, “Would you go to bed with me for five dollars?” Offended, she shot back, “Who do you think I am?” The millionaire countered, “We have already established that. Now we are negotiating the price.”

As followers of Christ, do we have our price? Will we compromise our convictions when “the price is right”?

Beyond the monetary, there are matters of justice and rightness. Will we hold true to what is right and just? Or, will we compromise our conscience and conviction about what is good and necessary? 

Child psychologist Robert Coles has shared the story of a thirteen-year-old white boy who stood between a black boy and a white gang, with the intention of defending the black boy. Despite the risk, the boy refused to back down. Coles later asked him why. “Something inside me just drew the line.” 

Coles had previously subscribed to the idea that children are a clean slate formed by the environment. However, he changed his position due to many observations that children are moral and spiritual beings who make choices on their own about right and wrong apart from the environment. 

The boy stood firm on what was right and just. Something inside the boy resolved to defend goodness and fairness even if it cost him. 

As Christians, we refer to this as our God-given conscience. The moral law resides within.

Paul tells us in Romans 2:15 that even the Gentiles, who do not have the Law of Moses, “show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts; and their conscience [their sense of right and wrong, their moral choices] bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or perhaps defending them” (AMP).

Will We Never Defer and Yield to the Carnal World?

What would you do if you found a large sum of cash in the forest with an attached address? Would you keep the money, since no one would ever have to know, or would you return it? What does the Christ-follower do, and why?

As Christ-followers we perform for the audience of One. Truth is not relative to the Lord and His followers. Each believer is committed to a body of truths in the Bible, like integrity and truth-telling, even when deception works to advance selfish desires and would never be exposed. Why? Hebrews 4:13 states, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (NIV). We are back to the audience of One. 

Just like the unchangeable truths of the Ten Commandments etched in stone, absolute truths should be chiseled in our hearts regardless of the circumstances. This is why Paul wrote to the Galatians, “But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you” (Galatians 2:5). Paul followed the example of Jesus that we read about in Matthew 22:16, where we hear about Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any.” Jesus, and thus Paul, did not yield if it meant compromising the clear truth of the Father to win worldly favor.

Contrast that with the devil who “does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44). 

As believers, we must stand in God’s immutable truth. Yet, some act as though His truth doesn’t matter. By analogy, two truckers measured a bridge 10 feet 4 inches above the road they were driving on. Though their truck was 10 feet 8 inches in height, they shouted at each other with excitement, “No cops around, let’s go for it.” God’s unchanging truth is like that bridge. Yet, some act as though there is no God and declare, “Let’s go for it!” 

Will We Live by Core Convictions?

At this point, we need to ask: What might be the core convictions of the Christ-follower? And how might these differ from other belief systems, such as the secular “convictions” of academia that pervades the West? 

1. Our Deepest Aims: We prioritize faith, holiness, humility, duty, selflessness, love, and honor toward others. The secular leans toward self-reliance, happiness, success, self-confidence (hubris), and accumulation of wealth and power. Though these are not necessarily wrong, these must not be the sole aim. (Yes, there is crossover since these secular values can be noble and used for noble purposes, and secularism promotes love and respect, but the thought here is the ultimate aim. To what end will one pursue these aims?) 
2. Our Moral Outlook: We stand on absolute moral standards like the Ten Commandments etched in stone. The secular subscribes to moral relativism and situational ethics. 
3. Our Worldview: The believer adheres to the centrality of Christ that entails accountability, judgment, eternity, and glory. The secular defaults to the worldly view that death ends all, so eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.
4. Our Suffering: Never wishing for suffering per se, the Christ-follower accepts the affliction as a means to receiving God’s comfort and extending His comfort to others. The suffering Christ shows us the way forward. The secular seek to avoid all adversity and hate the gods for their sufferings. If unavoidable they try to numb the pain through any means available. 
5. Our Authority: Because everyone believes something on the basis of something, the believer unapologetically submits to the authority of Scripture and Christ. The secular submits to science and self. 
6. Our Marriages: In the all-important area of marriage, the believer aligns with the biblical position that it is a sacred union between a man and a woman to reflect Christ and the church. The secular heralds love and the law in defining marriage and relationships. 

Will I Ignore the Consequences of Compromising Convictions? 

For the believer, there can be long-term adverse outcomes from short-term compromise choices. A good friend told me about his former pastor who ran off with his secretary. I asked, “How is he doing?” My friend replied, “He has committed professional and reputational suicide.” 

Some transgressions may be subtle. For example, not a few believers wish to be liked by their social group. They cannot handle the thought of being rejected for their convictions, especially when they struggle to articulate why they believe as they do. So, they go along with the crowd on many of the issues claiming that they are not wishing to antagonize but maintain a friendship. But James, the half brother of Jesus, wrote: “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Truly, we come to a crossroad where we must go right or we must go wrong. 

Are the consequences immediate or fully realized on earth? Maybe not. The apostle informed Timothy, “The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after” (1 Timothy 5:24). The compromised life reported about the pastor came to light immediately. For some, like one well-known apologist, his sins appeared after his death. Regardless, all will be revealed before the Lord. We read, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). 

At the deepest level, we hurt the heart of God. We displease Him. Yielding convictions in the face of fear or cowardice will not please our loving Lord. Paul instructed, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him” (2 Corinthians 5:9). 

Will I Change Course After Yielding and Compromising? 

Course correction is a good thing. David committed adultery contrary to his conscience and convictions. Still, he repented and so lived a godly, wise life that others said about him, that he “served the purpose of God in his generation” (Acts 13:36). 

Peter denied the Lord, contrary to what he believed deep in his heart, and he later wept bitterly in repentance, and Jesus restored Him in John 21, a powerful story of course-correction.

The well-known story of the prodigal demonstrates a season of lapse wherein he chose to live contrary to the convictions of his upbringing, but in coming to his senses, he returns home in humility to be celebrated by his father. 

Whatever you have done to yield, agree with God that you have sinned against Him. Take responsibility for failing to remain true to your conscience and conviction. 

Secondly, take whatever steps to stand firm and not yield your conviction to appease the world. For example, though considerate of another’s opposing views, you voice what you believe. You do this because you have researched the insights from others who have previously traveled that road. Wisdom resides out there, but you must seek it. Millions hold to their convictions yet maintain a winsome and warm personality like Tim Tebow, who won the Heisman trophy, or former NFL coach Tony Dungy, who won the Super Bowl. They have been in the fray but know how to stand firm. 

Let me end with a question. When asked to yield your convictions, will you exhibit your imitation of Jesus so that others will say, “We know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one”?