Conversion

All of us who are in ministry and really, everyone who knows Christ by faith in his finished work on the cross, long for everyone else to know the truth we have come to believe. That is, that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah and Savior of the world. What is fascinating to me at least, is that I have come to understand that salvation is a process for most and an event for some. Let me explain. I came to understand and believe that Christ is who he says he is at the age of twelve sitting in a church service in 1971. I can see it like it was yesterday. It was a very vivid moment for me. Although I had been hearing the gospel for about six months prior to that I didn't respond to it til later. So it was both a process and an event. Now, that doesn't mean I knew everything there was to know about Christ and his work, but I knew enough to know that I needed a Savior from my sins. Some will tell you that they don't know exactly when they came to believe in Christ. It was as if they had known him for a long time and they just learned to trust Him and believe. There is no date to remember or a special church service or event. It's more about a process of the gospel working in their lives over time to bring them to a place of belief. Scot McKnight in his book The Jesus Creed argues this same point using the Apostle Peter as an example. He writes, "For some, conversion is like a birth certificate, while for others it is like a driver's license. For the first, the ultimate question is "What do I need to get to Heaven?" For the second, the question is "How do I love God?" For the first, the concern is a moment; for the the second, the concern is a life." Explaining in more detail he says, "If conversion is likened to a birth certificate, we produce babies who need to be pushed around in strollers. If it's like a driver's license, we produce adults who can operate on life's pathways." He then goes on to ask, "when was Peter converted?" Was it when he was first introduced to Jesus and agreed to follow him? Or was it when he confessed he was a sinner? Or what about when asked by Jesus who he said he was and he answered that "he was the Christ, the Son of the living God?" Or could it possibly have been after he denied Christ and was then asked three times by Jesus if he loved him and he said three times that he did? No one knows for sure but it appears that salvation for Peter was more of a process than an event but no one denies that Peter knew Christ as Savior. McKnight says, "Peter's conversion was a gradual growth of what he understood about Jesus." On the other hand, one could argue that the apostle Paul's conversion was an event. Either way, salvation comes to each person in a different way through different means. The gospel hasn't changed and the requirements of belief and repentance are still the same, but what we must understand is that God's work of salvation can be a lifelong process. We leave the results to him.