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Conversion

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 10, 1914

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 38.

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Conversion

By G. B. Thompson

“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 18: 3.
THERE is no more important event in the life of an individual than the hour of his conversion. He is then in a special sense God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” A new creation has taken place. The man is a “new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Everything indeed becomes new. It is a great experience when one awakens to the fact that, through all the past life, he has been making a mistake in the greatest and most important matters in life. Having seen the true goal and the real meaning of life, he is shocked to discover that in the main essentials of his life he has been traveling in the wrong direction, and has nearly missed the mark and made a failure of life.
He becomes conscious of the fact that he has been placing in the warp and woof of his character hay, wood, and stubble instead of the more perfect and enduring substance; and like the great apostle, he must count that all loss which he has perhaps most laboriously built up. He realizes that the structure which he has been building will needs be abandoned, perhaps destroyed altogether, and another temple, fit for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, be reared. When converted, he is led to study the very foundation upon which he has been building, only to discover that it is one of great insecurity, and must needs be replaced by the only true foundation, which no man can lay — Christ Jesus. Remorse and deep regret fill the soul over the years that have been wasted, living on the husks and pods of sin, when he might have fared sumptuously at his Father’s table. This new creation changes the mind. The things upon which he once lavished his affections are now rejected as worthless. That which he once loved he loathes, and that which he once hated he loves. Instead of seeking after the things of this life, which soon perish, his great ambition becomes to perfect a character; to live a pure, holy life; to minister to the needs of suffering humanity about him; to live for others instead of himself.
This was the experience of the great apostle Paul. “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Phil. 3: 7, 8.
That which seemed of most value to him when converted was that he might “know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” His aim in life now was to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Our great need is a deep conversion. There are many in the churches who are not really converted. Sin rules in their lives. They love the world and its pleasures. Questionable places of amusement and entertainment have an attraction for them; and as a result the heart is weaned from prayer and the love of God’s Word. The truly converted man will love to pray, to study the Scriptures, to talk of heavenly things. He will be wholly absorbed in the things of God.
“Saviour, Prince, enthroned above, Repentance to impart, Give me through thy dying love The humble, contrite heart; Give, what I have long implored, A portion of thy grief unknown; Turn and look upon me, Lord, And break my heart of stone.”
G. B. THOMPSON.