Conversion
By Johnny Angel
Dear friends,
I know my email ministry has not been as consistent lately. But I am still
here, and I still send stuff as I have time to do so. Maybe when this
semester is over, things will slow down a little. I wanted to share this
devotion one of my friends wrote.
N Prayer,
Johnny <*}}}><
I have discovered, or the Lord has revealed to me, a good method of
conversion.
1. Before you can convert someone, you must love that person. How
can anyone be converted to Christianity if they are not loved and cared
for by the converter. Paul wasn't just trying to win people to Christ. He
wasn't even just trying to save people from Hell. He genuinely loved
the people he converted and wanted them to know the love of Jesus.
He wanted to share the good news. And you don't give good news to
people you hate; you give it to people you love. And as Christians we
are commanded to share the good news with everyone. We must
therefore love everyone.
2. You can not tell a sinner to stop sinning. We have both tried this
tactic. Some people even use this tactic as their gospel and never
stop. This is the fastest way to turn someone off to Christ. We don't
share what is wrong with them. We share with them (not just with our
words, but also our actions) the love of Christ who died for our sins.
When sinners are aware of this love, they are more motivated to stop
sinning. We have an obligation to get people psyched for Christ and
get them ready for His second coming which will occur soon.
3. Now that the sinner knows that Christ loves them, they can return
that love for Christ. Christ died for the remission of sins and all He asks
in return is our undying love and loyalty. At this point, sinners are ready
to stop sinning. This is he hardest part of the process. We have grown
attatched to our sins, and we don't want to give them up. But we can
do all things through Christ who strengthens us. You and I still struggle
with this, and we must always try to live up to God's expectations. But
when we fail, Christ is ready to forgive us.
This war is an exciting one, a devestating one. But a joyous and
glorious victory awaits. Christ is coming soon, so go tell everyone the
god news. if you need any help, ask me or another Christian to help
you. We are all on the same side. Christ is our captain and we must
follow his command. Right now our only command is to spread the
good news. More commands will follow on an individual basis. But with
Christ, our victory is sure.
written by Andy Heath