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A Change of Heart, January 14
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord.
Acts 3:19
.
In order to be saved, we must know by experience the meaning of true
conversion. It is a fearful mistake for men and women to go on day by
day professing to be Christians yet having no right to the name. In God’s
sight profession is nothing, position is nothing. He asks, Is the life in
harmony with My precepts? There are many who suppose that they are
converted but who are not able to bear the test of character presented in
the Word of God....
Conversion is a change of heart, a turning from unrighteousness to
righteousness. Relying upon the merits of Christ, exercising true faith in
Him, the repentant sinner receives pardon for sin. As he ceases to do evil
and learns to do well, he grows in grace and in the knowledge of God. He
sees that in order to follow Jesus he must separate from the world, and
after counting the cost, he looks upon all as loss if he may but win Christ.
He enlists in His army and bravely and cheerfully engages in the warfare,
fighting against natural inclinations and selfish desires and bringing the
will into subjection to the will of Christ. Daily he seeks the Lord for
grace, and he is strengthened and helped. Self once reigned in his heart,
and worldly pleasure was his delight. Now self is dethroned, and God
reigns supreme. His life reveals the fruit of righteousness. The sins he
once loved he now hates. Firmly and resolutely he follows in the path of
holiness. This is genuine conversion....
Let us not forget that in his conversion and sanctification man must
cooperate with God. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trem-
bling,” the Word declares. “For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure.” (
Philippians 2:12, 13
). Man cannot
transform himself by the exercise of his will. He possesses no power by
which this change may be affected. The renewing energy must come from
God. The change can be made only by the Holy Spirit. He who would be
saved, high or low, rich or poor, must submit to the working of this power.
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