Borrowed Beliefs

I recently heard John Maxwell say, "Borrowed beliefs have no power." I have been thinking about that statement and can't help but wonder if many of us hold to powerless faith because we are only borrowing our beliefs. If it is true that belief affects behavior, then many of us do not really believe what we profess because our actions do not align with our beliefs.

Most of us have established a moral code by which we live. We make choices, many times, based on this belief system which distinguishes right and wrong. The problem comes when right conflicts with convenience. When what is right ceases to be convenient for us, often times we choose wrong. By choosing wrong — be lying, cheating, stealing, whatever — we may better our position, avoid trouble, or even help someone else, but on a soul level, we communicate to the watching world and to ourselves, our beliefs are negotiable. I don't own what I believe.

In the book of Acts, there is a story of a man named Steven. Steven had the guts to stand before a group of angry and powerful men and declare what he believed to be true. When their angry grew to violence toward him, he did not back pedal or qualify his beliefs. He stood in the face of violent men and continued to communicate — with his words and his actions — that he believed what espoused so deeply, that it was unshakeable. Steven died because he owned his belief and it could not be changed.

Do we believe anything so strongly that we would die before we let it go? Or is our integrity sacrificed on the altar of convenience? Do we own our beliefs or are they just borrowed?