CONVERSION AND CONVERSATION

Fall has fell!  At the Dodds’ house, as I’m sure is true at yours, we find ourselves engaged in a number of chores that come with the change of seasons.  I’m starting to clean up the garden - pulling up the spent plants, enriching the soil with compost, grass clippings, and leaves - and then tilling the ground to mix in all those good things.  There are plenty of leaves to rake, and flower beds to clean up.  Then there is all the lawn furniture to be stowed away in the garden shed for the winter.  I also like to change all the batteries in our smoke alarms every fall, cover the air conditioning unit, and put a clean filter in the furnace.

 

My wife and I have lived in our current house for 50+ years.  We moved into it in 1973 and raised all five of our children here.  The furnace that heated the house when we moved in was originally an old coal burner that had been converted to burn natural gas.  It was huge and took up most of one room in our basement.  Furnaces like ours were known as “octopuses” because of the cluster of round heating ducts that came out of the top of them and extended to all the first floor rooms.  Just behind our furnace was a coal bin that still had some coal in it from the last load they had delivered to the house decades previously.  That old furnace was dependable if nothing else.  I don’t know when it was originally installed in the house, or when it was converted to gas; but it had to have been at least 30-40 years before we moved in, and it served us for another 30 years before we updated it.  

 

Before that old furnace was converted, it was a dirty business keeping the house warm.  It involved a considerable amount of labor besides.  One had to order regular deliveries of coal that were transferred through the basement window from a truck into the coal bin via a long chute.  The coal bin was just a wooden enclosure under the window that would keep the coal from being scattered all over the basement floor.  The coal falling from the chute would raise a cloud of coal dust as it hit the floor.  The homeowner then had to shovel the coal into the firebox of the furnace at intervals throughout the day.  You didn’t want the fire to go out and then have to restart it!  Just before bedtime at night, the fire would have to be “banked up” so that it would last through the night without having to be fed again until morning.  This involved putting a good quantity of coal in the firebox and closing the damper so that the coal would burn more slowly and last all night long.  In the winter, the black soot coming out of the chimney would leave a residue on top of the snow around the house.  Then people coming in the house would track it in on their shoes or boots making a mess of rugs and floors.  Lastly, there were the ashes from the burnt coal that had to be shoveled out of the furnace and disposed of! 

 

The conversion of those old coal furnaces must have been a marvelous improvement for homeowners at the time.  Fuel oil and natural gas provided clean alternatives for home heating and saved a considerable amount of work for the owners.  These conversions were also very dependable, requiring very little repair or maintenance.

 

CONVERSION is a term that we should be familiar with from the Bible.  Like our old furnace, every believer has also gone through a conversion when they first trusted in Jesus Christ and were born again.  God changed something inside of us so that we could run more cleanly and efficiently as humans.  Like the furnace, we still looked the same on the outside, but on the inside something had changed dramatically.  We were indeed a dirty operation without Christ in our lives.  Despite our best efforts to run “cleanly,” we just couldn’t get there.  As the Prophet Isaiah reminds us, “…we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.  And there is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee: for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.  But now, O LORD, Thou art our father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand.” (Isaiah 64:6-8).  After our conversion we found the inward strength through Christ to walk cleanly and righteously without a great effort on our part.  The grace of God was changing us from the inside out rather than our trying to change ourselves from the outside in.  Once we were converted, we discovered that our righteousness was not dependant on our own labor or willpower, but that God was working in us, giving us the desire and the ability to do His will (Philippians 2:13).  As St. Paul explains, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

 

This idea of conversion is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments.  It describes what happens to a soul who gives his or her heart to God and trusts in the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ through faith.  Both the original Hebrew and Greek words that the KJV translates as “convert,” “converted,” or “conversion” convey ideas such as: turning back to God; repenting; turning back (from evil); to be returned, be restored, be brought back; turning to the worship of the true God; and to love, wisdom, and righteousness.  These are all true of a soul who is converted to Christ and trusts His Lordship.  Consider the following verses concerning conversion:

 

“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). 

 

“Except ye be CONVERTED, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18:3). 

 

As stated, the goal and overall purpose of converting those vintage furnaces was to improve the operation and reduce the labor and the mess.  The same thing can be said of our conversion: the Lord wants to improve how we operate and reduce the labor and mess! 

 

The Bible uses another less familiar word when referring to our operation.  That word is CONVERSATION.  In English, we usually use this word regarding a talk we have with another person.  The Bible uses the word to express so much more, though.  The original Hebrew and Greek words convey the idea of a path, a journey, a habit, moral character, behaving one’s self, manner of life, one’s conduct, behavior, or deportment.  In the case of our old furnace, “CONVERSATION” would describe the operation and dependability of the heater after it was converted.  In our case, it refers to our day-to-day behavior, conduct, or walk with God.

 

God is very interested in our conversation.  Improving our conversation (behavior) is the very reason that we have been converted.  We are not meant to return to our old operation, walking in lust and spewing out soot!  Paul asked the Romans, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”  The resounding answer is, “God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1, 2).  Consider the following verses concerning our conversation:

 

“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me [God]: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.” (Psalms 50:23). 

 

“But as He [God] which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” (1 Peter 1:15). 

 

“Seeing then that all these things [earthly things] shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” (2 Peter 3:11). 

 

Conversion is also synonymous with RECEIVING Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  “But as many as received Him [Jesus], to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (John 1:12).  In other words, those who have been converted have been given the power to become something more than they previously were. 

 

Conversation is synonymous with WALKING in Christ Jesus our Lord.  “As ye have therefore RECEIVED Christ Jesus the Lord [been converted], so WALK ye in Him [order your conversation aright]: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6, 7).

 

Once we are converted, we have an endless supply of grace that empowers us to do the will of the Lord.  Thinking again of my old furnace, once it was converted and hooked up to a natural gas line coming into the house from the city, it had an endless supply of fuel to warm our home all winter long with no effort on my part except to turn a dial to activate the heating process.  The Psalmist tells us, “I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.” (Psalm 57:2).  God also spoke through Zechariah the Prophet also and said, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6).  We need only to cry out to God, and He begins to work in our lives.  How good is God our Savior?!!

 

As a footnote to my furnace story, I must add that at one point in time before we eventually replaced the old “octopus” I purchased an add-on wood/coal burner which I connected to the ductwork of the furnace.  I did it in order to try and save some money on our winter heating.  For several years I found out first-hand how much work was involved in heating with wood/coal and how dirty the coal was to burn.  Once again, the old coal bin was called into service as we had coal delivered through our basement window.  It was kind of like backsliding and going back to one’s dirty ways!!!  I can say with authority that it was a blessed thing when we had our new furnace installed!

 

“He that saith he abideth in Him [Christ] ought himself also so to walk, even as He [Christ] walked.” (1 John 2:6). 

 

“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.” (Ephesians 4:17). 

 

“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ.” (Philippians 1:27).