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I have an odd intolerance for certain foods. I’m not allergic to them, but I’ve also discovered that it more than mere pickiness. Unfortunately, the foods I am intolerant of are the ones that I most need to be eating for health and nutrition. While I am working on overcoming this problem, it never fails that someone learns of my eating habits and begins to lovingly lecture me on the necessity of eat better than I do. I nod patiently as I hear for the umpteenth time the basics of nutrition we all learned in grade school. Recently, when someone began this lecture, I quickly interrupted them and said: “Oh, I agree! I’m convinced, just not converted“.
This off-hand turn of phrase has stuck with me ever since. Let’s briefly look at the terms in question here:
Convinced: To be moved to believe, through logic, argument or evidence, that something is true.
Many Christians, especially in West, have come to faith through being convinced- that is, we have been moved to believe differently about something through a compelling argument, presentation or even relationship. This ushers us into active relationship with God as we make a choice to identify as His follower. Growing up, this is what I was taught about what it meant to be converted. While there is overlap, I think that we have confused being convinced with being converted.
Converted: To be changed from one form, substance or state, to another.
Without question being convince is a significant part of the conversion experience (at least for many). That being said, we can see by the definition that conversion is far more than simply being convinced- it encompasses and surpassed it. To be converted is to be transformed- to be changed from one thing to another. It is holistic and all-encompassing. The emphasis of rationalism in Western Christianity, while bringing us many gifts, has all too often led us understand belief as primarily (and at times exclusively) as cognitive. Yes, it demanded change in us, but it was as though we believe that the transformation would occur because of the changed understanding. In other words, the primary means of conversion was the change of ideas.
True conversion does not occur because of us. Yes, we participate through our will. Yes, our minds- that is our understanding and ideas- should be changed as well. But the source of that change is not the result of anything in us, but instead it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Further, if Jesus is to be believed, then how we live out this transformation is more important than what we think about it. The changed mind is a product of the transformed heart, made possible through Christ. The fruit of that transformation must be made manifest in how we live.
Don’t settle for a changed mind. Jesus is not someone who had some ideas He wanted us to be convinced by. Rather, He invited (and invites) us into Himself to experience true and whole transformation to become, together, His Body for His kingdom and His glory.
(To explore what I believe it means to live the fullness of what Christ calls us into, see “The Cost of Community: Jesus, St. Francis & Life in the Kingdom”)
Tags: conversion, Jesus, Missional
I agree conversion is a work of the Holy Spirit but I am trying to figure out how we cooperate without it becoming a work of our will. I am reading Richard Rohr’s book “Beathing Under Water” looking for an answer to that question. Thoughts?
Wendy, the will participates, of course. It is the coming together of the mind, the will and emotions, in obedience to the Spirit. The problem is when the mind is seen as the primary or only place in which we engage with the Spirit of Truth.
Jamie, over the years you have really honed your craft as a writer. This is a great opening paragraph. I knew before I read the whole column that it would be well worth reading. And it is. But something this concise and precise comes from more than craft. Way to go.
“Further, if Jesus is to be believed, then how we live out this transformation is more important than what we think about it.” Or feel about it:
“Spiritual dryness, if that is [God’s] will at the moment, is as much to be loved and obeyed as spiritual fervor …It takes repeated aridity … to bring home to us that our own so precious feelings contribute nothing to our salvation; that, in fact, they generally stand in the way of our perfection. Spiritual dryness can finally lead us, after much pouting, actually to give thanks that it is not because we see God that we have joy. It is because he sees us.” Gale D. Webbe, The Night and Nothing
Peace.
Thanks so much, Larry. And thanks for the quotes. They may inspire a post themselves!
[...] Arpin-Ricci gets at this in an excellent blog post at Cost of Community titled Convinced is not Converted. As we still are in the early days of a new year, we need to make sure that all those things we [...]
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