"Converted"

"But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."  Luke 22:32

 

You have to wonder about people who say they are Christians but live a lifestyle that is contrary to Biblical teachings.  You see it on social media a lot.  One of their post will be all about the Lord and the next post will be full of profanity and words of hatred and bitterness.  Why don't their actions line up?  Why doesn't the lifestyle line up with the profession?

 

I believe the main reason is that they haven't really been converted.  Every person in the Bible who came to Jesus and followed Him had a conversion experience.  The prodigal son was converted.  When the story about him opened, he was a selfish, self-centered, rebellious son full of hatred.  At the end of the story, after his conversion, we see that he was completely different.  He was repentant and humble.  Zacchaeus the tax collector was a "legal" thief.  He took whatever taxes he wanted and kept what wasn't given to the government for himself.  After his conversion, he told Jesus he would pay back to the people four times whatever he had taken wrongfully.  

 

So was does conversion mean?  It means to change; to turn to or back to-- in the Hebrew it meant to return to love and obedience to God.  Conversion is not just turning over a new leaf.  It is not joining a church.  It is not becoming a good person.  It isn't just changing your mind.  It isn't simply believing in Jesus.  Even the demons believe who Jesus is and tremble.  Peter even professed correctly that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the Living God.  But he still had to be converted. 

 

Jesus told Nicodemus, the religious leader, he had to be born again.  When we are born again, we become a new person.  In short, we are converted.  Conversion involves repentance.  Repentance brings about in our lives a born again experience.  Being born again makes us new.  When we are new, we are converted and begin to love and follow the Lord.

 

I am not talking about a conversion to the church, some religious program or some denomination.  I am talking about being converted into a relationship with the Living God through His Son Jesus Christ.  Before his conversion, the prodigal son only had a "biological" relationship with his father.  After his conversion, he had a love relationship with him.  That is what true conversion does-- changes us and brings us into a love relationship with the Heavenly Father. 

 

Have a great day.  Have you been converted?