Conversion
“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:13)
I suspect that I’m not alone in noticing that we believers struggle to fully grasp and comfortably settle into a sense of true conversion. I think it is because we easily confuse it with repentance, which Jesus characterized through the following parable, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when it comes, if finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26) Jesus shared this parable with the religious leaders, because they were caught in a rut living out the parable daily. They confirmed by example that strict observance of the law will never cause conversion. To put it simply, the more we strive to become the “new creation” that Paul spoke of in II Corinthians (5:17) by simply resisting sin, the more self-righteous, hypocritical and toxic we can unwittingly become to those around.
The conversion necessary to see and enter the Kingdom of God, according to Jesus, is much more than a mental commitment to change our conduct. Consider conversion as we know it in life: Heated water converts to a vapor to form clouds and finally condense and fall as rain. Fuels ignite to be converted to energy in the form of both light and heat. This is the magnitude of conversion that Jesus teaches we must experience in order to see and enter into the Kingdom of God. We must also be completely converted from one form to another. And this is not something that we do. God does it, through the gift of faith that he gave us. You’ll probably be shocked to realize that your conversion actually is already behind you! It happened in the instant that you believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. That was in fact the moment you were born into the Kingdom (household) of God. For John revealed, “But to all who did receive him (Jesus), who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” It truly is an adoption that is solely God’s choice. Most of us have had best friends, whose families basically adopted us. Did we question our worthiness to be accepted by them? No! Why then do we entertain countless earthly reasons why God would never do such a thing for us? We must turn away from reason and give our whole being over to this priceless and completely undeserved gift. God has converted us into his own spiritual sons and daughters. Jesus confirmed this when he said in prayer regarding us as believers, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
And, the uncontrived and indisputable evidence of our adoption into God’s Kingdom is so completely clear and natural: We believe that Jesus came down from heaven to become flesh and dwell among us. We believe that he was born of the virgin, Mary. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God Our Father. We believe that Jesus is the great friend who laid down his life as a ransom specifically to redeem each of us, as our Savior. We believe that, as Jesus informed us, through faith in Him, we have “already crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24) And, all of these truths lead us to “Love one another,” (John 13:34) as Jesus commanded. Gradually gratitude helps us realize that loving and pleasing Our Heavenly Father helps us naturally keep the commandments. All things really do become new!
These marvelous truths lift us up and into our Heavenly Father’s loving arms, the cares and alleged riches of this world begin to fade from view. It becomes easier to look away from the world and toward our Great Shepherd, Jesus. We begin to understand what he meant by, “…where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matthew 6:21) and “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) We finally know that we cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God until we are
“…converted and become like children…”