A Continual Conversion

Today's Reading: Acts 9:1-19

I came across this map today, and was struck by how recently people defended a flat Earth. It reminded me of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9 and how drastically different he viewed his world after encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus. His conversion has got to be on the top ten all time best conversion stories, going from someone who sanctioned the killing of Christians to being repeatedly imprisoned for his teachings of Jesus.

In fact, I have always wished I had a better conversion story than I did. As much as I needed the redemption of Jesus in my life, my story just doesn’t preach as well as Paul’s does. Others have shared this sentiment with me in telling their faith journeys.

And what I’ve realized from lamenting with friends over our nondramatic conversion stories is that Christians often have ‘conversions of thought’ throughout their lives that rival that of the best conversion stories around. These conversions of thought can happen individually, congregationally, and even denominationally and beyond. 

This map from 1893 is a great example. Christians have gone from being convinced the Bible validated a flat Earth to universal acceptance of a round Earth. I am also reminded of the Church’s trial of Galileo for believing the Earth revolved around the sun and in more recent history of many within the Church being reluctant to accept Civil Rights.

These are landmark examples of where the Church has experienced conversions of thought and have realized how far off the mark their best intentions have been, much like Saul.

And if history has proven anything, it has proven that the Church continues to discover these areas in need of God’s grace, renewal and change. We as Christians have these needs in our lives, our families, our congregations, our communities and our world.

God is calling us to be transformed, and rather than a one-time conversion story, this is a daily call to continually challenge our hearts and minds to grow individually and collectively into something that reflects the image of God.

- David Todd Harmon