Conviction Shaped By Grace

“My earthly life clings to the dust; revive and refresh me according to Your word.” Psalm 119:25

Thomas Tomkins was an English weaver living in London. He had come to love the Scriptures after hearing them read in English and that alone placed him in danger when Queen Mary banned private reading and studying of the Bible.

In 1555 he was brought before Bishop Edmund Bonner and ordered to abandon what he believed about Christ and the Lord’s Supper. The demand was simple: return to the teachings of Rome and live. Thomas answer with, “My conscience was bound to the Word of God.” To the authorities of the Catholic Church saw his refusal a serious thing because it showed that the word of God was giving a common man a stubborn faith.

The Church decided that more had to be done to Thomas, so they took a lit candle and placed it up against his right hand, the hand with which he had signed his confession of faith with. As his flesh slowly burned, the pain was meant to break him. Witnesses recorded that he endured the torment remembering the suffering of Jesus. Thomas said at this moment, “The One who died for me was worthy of any cost I might bear in return.”

When they finally withdrew his severely burnt hand from the hot burning candle, they placed a pen in that same hand and demanded him to write a statement recanting his faith in the word of God. But instead Thomas took the pen in his burnt hand and signed his confession again – choosing faithfulness to the Bible. The moment after he sign the letter, Thomas looked at the crowd that gathered around him and said loudly for all to hear, “Conviction shaped by grace is stronger than fear shaped by threats.”

At that moment, he was sentenced to death on March 16, 1555. He was led to the place where many believers were executed. The fire that had tested his hand now tormented his body. Those who watched saw not only another execution, but the strength in a man that didn’t come from education or position, fame or fortune, but from his confidence in Christ and the security found in the Scriptures!

His story reminds us that faithfulness to the word of God is not proven in comfort but in crisis!



As we continue our Five Faith Fasts for the next 4 Sundays, we want to be confident that God’s word can sustain our lives through the good times and the hard times.

Pressing On Together,



Pastor Dave