One or Two

There was a time when I was of the opinion that there were two kinds of conversions.  Each was characterized by an event in the New Testament.  There was the instantaneous conversion such as Saul of Tarsus experienced on the Damascus Road.  There was the gradual transformation in which a person came to an awareness of the love of Christ growing in their heart.  The story of the Emmaus Road illustrates such an experience.  Why I spent time considering something so unimportant is beyond me as I live out this season of my life.  

These thoughts resurfaced as I was reading the first chapter of the book of Mark.  It would seem from the story that Jesus was strolling along the Sea of Galilee, saw four fishermen, and suddenly at almost a single word from Him, each one became a disciple.  A slower reading, however, enable us to include a previous section within the framework of what was happening.  In the earlier section, the Scripture says, "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news."  (Mark 1:14). It is likely that those fishermen heard Jesus preaching, talked about what they heard, and had carried His words with them as they returned to their boats.  When Jesus called out to them that day, their hearts had been prepared and made ready to say "Yes!"  What looks like an instantaneous decision might have been one that had been growing within them since they first heard Jesus preach.  

I wonder how long the grace of Jesus had been working in my heart that night I knelt by bed in the Alamo parsonage and said,"Yes" to Him.  Saul's Damascus Road experience may have been the culmination of a work of grace that really began as Saul held the coats of those who cast deadly stones at Stephen.  I know not when grace first appeared in my life, but it did.  Grace always comes before faith and as it does, we do not always see it taking hold in our life. Grace comes quietly, but surely.