#ConversionStory#KeepitReal

Written by cycleguy on August 4th, 2020

I’ve just finished reading the three accounts of the conversion of Saul/Paul- Acts 9, Acts 22, and Acts 26.  Paul is efficient in each of them. Consistent in each of them. In other words, he doesn’t embellish, add to or take away a particular thought or action to make a stronger point to his audience. He doesn’t heighten emotion to make a stronger point to his audience. He says nothing more to Agrippa in chapter 26 than he does in his defense before the people in chapter 22.

Some people like to do just the opposite. In an effort to be relevant (whatever that may mean) or to present a more enthralling conversion experience, they embellish their story. I’ve read and heard some whoppers in my days. Mine is simple: I was 8 years old; fell under conviction that is what I must do; went forward on Palm Sunday; and was baptized (with others) on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1960. No big sin. I wasn’t a drug user, a pill-popper, a rebel (except as a sinner against God), a murderer, a rabble-rouser, or an obstinate, extremely disobedient child. I was simply a young boy who realized he was a sinner and wanted to accept Jesus. (I also confess I wanted to take communion but that’s a whole ‘nother story).  🙂  No confetti. No big brass band. No one lining up to hear my stirring story. The only sound heard was angels singing, rejoicing, as Luke 15 says.

Every man’s experience is different. No conversion stories are the same. I did not have a “Damascus Road” experience, but that makes mine no less important or special than someone who is radically saved and tells others. Here is what I think: You tell your story. Tell it truthfully. Who knows who may be listening?


 

8 Comments so far ↓

  1. Linda Stoll says:

    Bill, my story is similar to yours … how grateful I am that God caught me and held me fast early on.

    I can’t imagine where I would have gone, who I would have been without Jesus.

    Bless you.

  2. We do need to be true to our own stories of salvation, Bill, no matter how mundane they may appear to others. We know in our hearts how much they transformed us.
    Blessings!

  3. Ed says:

    No embellishment from me.. I was simply tired of the life I was leading. I cried out to Jesus.. He heard me. Amen!

  4. Pam says:

    Your post reminds me of an excerpt from a song written in the 70’s by a Christian couple and singers named Micky and Becky Moore:
    TESTIMONY SONG
    “Well there is not much to tell
    whenever I’m compelled
    to share my testimony.
    There’s no hair-raising tails
    of hell-raising days
    with demons hanging all over me.
    Well, I never smoked dope,
    or swore at the Pope
    or spent the night with a “shady lady”.
    I just came in bold,
    when I was ten years old
    and said, ‘Preacher, I want HIM to save me.'” © Copyright-Maiden Music (http://www.mickeyandbecki.com)