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Changed or Converted

I once heard a preacher talk about two conditions. One is where a person is merely changed because of the effect of the gospel and the other is where a person is converted because of the effect of the gospel. He didn’t have better words than that and acknowledged that there is confusion because in everyday life we often use those words almost interchangeably. When something is changed into something else we usually don’t have a problem saying it was converted or vice versa.

I struggled to find a simple way to understand the difference between those two conditions. I found some help in the words of Paul recorded in Philippians 2:13 where he wrote that “it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Here we find the key to discerning the difference between these two conditions.

Some people are merely changed. That is, their behaviour is changed because of the effect of the gospel in their life. Others are converted. They act in a way which conforms to the gospel because they choose to. Accepting the gospel doesn’t just change our behaviour, it changes how we want to behave.

Here’s an example. Children who are born into Christian families find their lives affected by the gospel. They do things like attending church services which they wouldn’t naturally want to do. They have no conviction or desire. They go to meetings because their parents take them to those gatherings.

Prayer is another example. Those who have grown up in a Christian family may pray around the table at home or perhaps at a prayer meeting. They can string words together appropriately and maybe even have some element of faith in the exercise, but there is no desire – no working of God in their lives. They are not converted. They don’t desire to pray. They can pray on command because they have learned how to do it, but there is no passion no spirit and no reality to their prayers.

I suspect that a percentage of people found in Christian churches on any given day would tell you that they would prefer to be someplace else, but something is obligating them to be there. It could be pressure from a friend. It could be some social need which drives them there. It might be some sense of obligation, but there is no spiritual desire. They are driven to it by some pragmatic reason, rather than by an inner desire that compels them to do what we might call Christian exercises - to fellowship with other Christians, to fellowship with God, to pray and read the Bible. Only as long as those external pressures exist do they conform their behavior to something we recognize as Christian.

This is not to say that all real Christians always want to be engaged in spiritual exercise. To my shame, I would have to stand up and be counted among those who find their passion for God rather fickle. There are times when I will go to a meeting for something other than a deep desire for fellowship with God or other Christians or to learn or pray. I may be there because I feel I should take my family, because someone is counting on me being there, or because I am in a place of leadership and need to set a good example.

Obviously there are factors that can affect our passion and desire which make us, for a period, want to withdraw, but I am not talking about that. I have in mind the overall contour of our life which conforms to one of two shapes. Superficially, they are indistinguishable, but we are either among those whose behaviour is changed because of the gospel, or among those whose desires are changed by the gospel.

I think this is the crux of what the preacher was getting at when he talked about the difference between being changed and being converted. For me it serves as a handy peg to hang that idea on. God works in us both “to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

Ron Hughes
© October 2007