I really enjoyed something from Journey Through the Bible. It was a lesson on "The Conversion of Saul." I admit, that when I first started reading it, I was still in my old concepts and my old thinking, with my old thoughts: Oh, I know this already. .. But I was so touched, exposed, and impressed....
"In order for Saul to participate in God's economy and be useful in God's plan, he needed to be converted from that religion to Christ. [So what does it mean to be converted?] To be converted is to have a change in our direction and goal...In his conversion from everything to Christ, Saul is a pattern to all of us. We are all vessels chosen by God and called by Him. Whether or not we are useful to God depends on how willing we are to go along with God for His plan....You may have been regenerated, but maybe even today you need a real, practical conversion from traditional things, from the religious things, [from school things, from distracting things, from "fun" things, from "but I like them" things, from "but what's the harm in them" things]...unto a living Christ. A person can only be regenerated once. But in my experience, I can testify that I have had a number of conversions. Regeneration is once for all, but conversion, to have some change in your life, is not just once for all...You have to consider whether or not something in our life is taking the place of Christ. Is something in your life more important than Christ Himself? If so, you have to be converted from this very thing to Christ,. Regeneration is a conversion, but a conversion to us Christians is not just once for all. We need many conversions. Anything, no matter how good it might be, can become a hindrance, a barrier between you and Christ, taking the place of Chirst in your life and substituting Christ in your life May we all be converted form everything other than Christ to the living Person of Christ Himself."
I was touched again that we need to be reminded that we are just like Paul, and he was just like us: a vessel made, chosen, and prepared to contain God, to be filled with Christ and to express Christ. Paul recieved a personal calling by the Lord, then a revelation of Jesus as the Savior, of God's plan to reveal His Son in him, and of Christ as a corporate Body...and from that seeing, Paul had a change in his direction and his goal...he was converted from everything to Christ. May we realize that we are just like Paul...may we pray for a personal calling, a heavenly vision...and may that cause a change in our direction and our goal...a conversion from all things in our life to Christ Himself...
