When our hearts begin to thaw enough to recognize our sin, we next experience conversion. This daily devotional looks at what conversion is and how it leads to regeneration.
Nuggets
- Conversion is when a sinner ABCDs in order to mend their sinful ways to follow God.
- God uses our conversion to change many areas of our lives.
- Faith thaws our hearts so that conversion can happen.
- To me, regeneration is what happens while conversion is how we get there.
Devotions in the From a Wrong Heart to a Right Heart series
In the From a Wrong Heart to a Right Heart series, we have been talking about stony hearts and hearts of flesh in the previous devotions. The foundation of this series is a verse in Ezekiel.
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36: 26 ESV)
We’ve progressed from being totally against the promptings of the Holy Spirit (the stony heart) to beginning to see that we are sinners and in need of a Savior (heart of flesh).
The next step in the progression is conversion. But what does that mean? (All these churchy words!)
Let’s find out.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
• A heart of stone is a soul without faith in God.
• A heart of flesh convicts us of sin because it possesses a tenderness which identifies the sin as wrong.
What Does Conversion Mean?
“And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Ac. 2: 38 ESV)
Conversion is when a sinner ABCDs in order to mend their sinful ways to follow God.
When we think about changing ourselves, we can easily slip into a worldview mindset of self-help. We read all the psychobabble books and try to change ourselves into a new, improved us.
Guthrie set us straight on that. He wrote, “Conversion is not a mere reform. No. It changes the heart, the habits, the everlasting destiny of an immortal being.”
Resource
We have to realize that conversion isn’t a fix-the-broken quest. It is a cut-it-out-and-replace mission.
Plus, we have to realize that it is not us changing ourselves. Only God can change us.
While conversion is instantaneous, this mission to change is going to take the rest of our lives.
The mission is called sanctification. Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration, gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal requickening in us that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
What Does Conversion Produce?
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 16: 16: ESV)
God uses our conversion to change many areas of our lives.
Conversion produces other changes beyond our hearts. We have a change in understanding because we realize that we no longer need to fully understand.
God‘s ways are higher than our ways, so we will never understand to His level. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55: 8-9 ESV).
When we are converted, we accept that. We no longer buy into the worldview notion that we have to understand everything.
Resource
Our will is changed. This is how we decide what actions we will perform.
We become less judgmental. We start to love others as He loves us, building community through unity.
We start to realize that this world is temporary. It will be replaced by eternity.
Does Conversion Produce the Heart of Flesh?
“To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires” (Eph. 4: 22 ESV)
Faith thaws our hearts so that conversion can happen.
In the last devotion, we discussed how a heart of flesh leads to conversion. Our heart has to thaw so that we are receptive to salvation.
Guthrie argued that we receive a heart of flesh as a result of conversion. He felt the softening of the stony heart in able to reach the point of conversion was through faith. Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
Resource
This softening causes the resistance to salvation to ride off into the sunset. Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
Glossary
How Does Conversion Mesh with Regeneration?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (II Cor. 5: 17 ESV)
To me, regeneration is what happens while conversion is how we get there.
When we get to regeneration, we receive a living heart. We “… die to sin and live to righteousness …” (I Pet. 2: 24 ESV). That is the discussion for the next devotion.
Making the Connections
Mede reminded us that we must make a genuine conversion. We can’t be going for fire insurance.
Resource
We have to not only be sorry that we committed the sin in the past, but we also have to turn away from the temptations in the future.
Are we going to slip and sin? Yes.
God will forgive us if our hearts are right.
How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Father God. We admit we are sinners. We believe the only way to rectify that is to ask Jesus to be our Savior and Redeemer. We confess You as Sovereign Lord. Help us to live our lives to become more like You. Amen.
What do you think?
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