I thought I had strong convictions. I learned that many of my beliefs were borrowed from other people and hadn’t been tested, applied, or internalized. I’ve come to recognize the cheaper substitutes to convictions that we often mistake for the real thing. As you consider them, decide whether your own beliefs are truly rooted or just borrowed.
It’s easy to put other Christians and other churches who have rejected God’s commands in a different category from ourselves. We say things like, “I can’t believe they did that,” but our surprise says more about us than it does about them.
Convictional leaders need to differentiate between convictions and preferences, and they often have trouble doing so. They need humility to avoid excess but are often given to pride. They need to listen as much as they talk but are often strong in the latter but weak in the former.