Crisis Conversion

I believe in what is called crisis conversion. Sometimes that means that a crisis has happened that opens you to the Gospel and you get saved. Sometimes that crisis is internal, a crisis of confusion or doubt about whether the Gospel is true and whether or not to believe in Jesus.

Some people seem to have gotten saved by osmosis. They have kind of oozed their way into the faith. Some people hang around so long that they figure they are saved like everyone else. There is no radical conversion. There is no change of life. Church kids deal with this. They grew up in church so they must be saved.

Some people want to cover all of the bases so they believe in Jesus just in case. They are not committed Christians. They are philosophical believers. They have Jesus in their bag but they are not sold on Him.

Being born again tells us what the conversion experience ought to be like. A baby in natural childbirth goes through a traumatic experience. It's no wonder that the first thing a newborn baby does is cry. The baby does not decide to be born. When the time is right, out they come. Jesus used this metaphor with the Jewish leader who stumbled over it like many nominal church attenders do today.

You must be born again. Every true Christian is here because they were born here, not adopted. And the unmistakable sign that you have been born again is a changed life. The way you think, the way you speak, the habits you do, your attitude about everything changes. No change, no new life. 

The other thing that happens is a hunger for the Bible. What does it say, how does it apply to me. It says, if my view differs from the Biblical view, my view must change. Change is bedrock to the Christian life.

Revival is most effective among the young. They seem to be able and eager to change. They do not have such hard held ideas. Anyone can be born again. Nicodemus was not a teenager. But the evidence of faith at any age is still a changed life.

A crisis conversion happens when someone hurtling towards Hell suddenly turns around by a miracle of God and goes in the opposite direction towards Heaven.