A common 1st world problem is deciding what to eat. We are so blessed that for a reasonable sum of money we can consume food finding its roots from almost anywhere in the world. What to eat… If you think you have a difficult time answering that question when you are hungry, consider this: What would a corpse say, if you asked him specifically what he wanted from Arby’s – wait, that’s too broad. Ask the corpse which slider he wants from Arby’s. Narrowed questions are easier to answer than broad ones. Sound ridiculous? Maybe. The corpse wouldn’t say that he wanted anything because he is dead. Corpses can’t do anything!
Now let’s shift gears just a little from working with a dead physical body to a dead spiritual soul. I say just a little because that first paragraph still applies, the question only needs to change. Souls don’t eat, but they do get hungry. All souls need to know of God’s love. Souls need to be free from guilty and the slavery to sin. In Ephesians 2 God reminds us that by nature – that is before meeting God – everyone is dead. If you asked that spiritual corpse to confess his love, his faith, his hope in God, what would he say? Sound ridiculous? Absolutely. Just as ridiculous as asking a corpse about his fast food tastes.
Conversion is a fascinating topic because it is really a resurrection, not of the body, but of the soul. When the soul quickens, God is the one who does all the heavy lifting – really all the lifting. No one can say even the simplest spiritual assent without God’s help. What is so difficult for us on this topic is that we can’t see the soul. I don’t know when the Spirit changes a heart. The best I can do is ask the person for a confession of faith and trust that he or she is being honest. That doesn’t really matter does it. I don’t need to know those details. That is a matter between the person and their God.
Want to know more about conversion? Watch this week’s study of By Grace Alone.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.