One Word

"Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." 
Matthew 18:3 (NKJV)

Mike lives up the street from me, and he wants nothing to do with me. The first time he spots me at a neighborhood party, he's holding a beer and says, "Guess I'm going to hell, right?" and walks away. That same pattern repeats at every gathering for years.

Then a neighbor stops me one day and tells me Mike has esophageal cancer. I pull into his driveway and knock on the door. When it opens, I barely recognize him. He's on a walker, on oxygen, and has lost an enormous amount of weight.

I sit down with him, tears in my eyes, and say, "Mike, I want to talk to you about Jesus." His eyes brighten immediately. "I would like to hear about Him," he says.

In one of the sweetest moments of my life, I share the Gospel. When I finish, I ask if he wants to put his trust in Jesus. He grabs his walker, shaking, and kneels. "Yes, sir, I would."

Everything about Mike changes after that. Everything.

If you ask me what happened to Mike, I can tell you in one word…conversion. Conversion is literally a turning around, a moral and spiritual reversal. It’s not just a feeling or a moment, but a change so complete that everything changes about you and everything changes in you.

Jesus said you will not enter the kingdom of heaven without it. So it’s a question worth thinking about today. And if it has happened, you will know. You will see it in what you want, what you turn away from, and what you can no longer live without.

Prayer: Lord, the word "conversion" sounds like a theological term until you're holding someone's hand at the end of their life and watching it happen in real time. Let it be real in me too. Not just a decision I made once, but a life that shows the change. In Jesus' Name, Amen.