Conversion

Brenden Ashby
04/14/24 - Sun AM

Conversion

Brenden Ashby

The Book of Acts is a book of conversions. What is conversion? Is it the moment one obeys the gospel in baptism, or is it a process?  I suggest to you that conversion is not one single change but a series of changes one makes leading up to and after obeying the gospel in baptism.

Let us take the case of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9. We see the first change Saul had to make is from zeal to sorrow. Saul admittedly was zealous in persecuting God’s people (Acts 26:9). But, upon hearing Jesus say, “I am Jesus who you are persecuting,” that zeal was changed to sorrow; for Saul knew he had been wrong (Acts 9:9). We, too, must make the same change from zeal for our old life to sorrow over the sins in that life in our conversion.

Another change that happened was not in Saul, but in Ananias. He needed to change from fear to faith. Jesus told Ananias to go and preach to Saul (Acts 9:10-12), and he, understandably, had some hesitation (Acts 9:13). Once Jesus reassured Ananias, he went and preached to Saul.  Just as with Ananias and Saul, in our conversion someone had to change from being unwilling to willing to teach us.

The biggest change in the conversion of Saul was from blasphemer to proclaimer (Acts 9:17-22). Saul’s conversion was not finished once he was baptized. He did not just park himself in a pew once he obeyed the gospel. No, he kept learning and growing and redirected his formally misplaced zeal into preaching the gospel that he once persecuted.

Years after Saul obeyed the gospel, he still proclaimed Jesus and lived out his conversion every day (Phil. 3:13-14). While we can rightly refer to obeying the gospel as conversion, in order for us to be truly converted we must live for Christ each day we have on this earth.