Have you been knocked off your horse lately?

Have you been knocked off your horse lately?

Fr Chris Thomas looks at the importance of conversion to Christ in our lives and how it changes everything for us.

My initial conversion experience took place thirty one years ago when through a whole series of events I found myself standing in a hall in Warrington full of people who were behaving to me at the time like lunatics, dancing, singing and clapping. Eventually a man got up and talked about Jesus and I found myself wanting God. It was one of those moments in life. I began to cry. People gathered round me and laid hands on me. As they prayed I was filled from the top of my head to the tips of my toes with a red hot flush of pins and needles that lasted for some ten minutes. All I knew at the end of the experience was that God loved me. It didn't depend on anything I'd done. It was free gift. It was then for me that the journey began. It's only when we know we're loved that we can safely journey and discover and grow.

If you look at the letters of St Paul you'll discover just how important his conversion experience was for him. Paul was a member of the temple police, delegated to destroy the Christians which he did with great commitment. Then his Damascus Road experience happened. Paul met the risen Jesus and realised who he was. More than anything else he became aware that despite the fact that he was a murderer and a bigot who had got it all wrong, he was loved by God.

"Conversion changes us"

Eventually he returns to Damascus a transformed man. Paul's experience invites us to reflect on how real conversion changes the way people see things and do things. It turns the world upside down constantly. Paul's experience and subsequent change leaves us with a real question to consider. Have we really been converted? Do we see things in a totally different way or do we simply believe what everyone else believes shrouding it in Religious language?

Have we been converted?"

How can we tell if we've been converted or are being converted? Maybe some of the points which follow might be an indication.

- Converted people know that God is present with us. Conversion leads you to the truth that God is everywhere and therefore everything is held in awe.

- Converted people don't need to protect themselves because they've given themselves away. There is no self image to protect. Paul has the greatest one liner of all to describe himself after conversion I live, no longer I, but Christ who lives in me'.

- Converted people know that they're not worthy and yet at the same time have a worthiness that can't be gained or lost because we are sons and daughters of God.

- Converted people know that everything is a miracle. After conversion the hand of God is seen in everything that happens.

- Converted people have a child likeness about them. You know when you meet someone who's converted or being converted. They laugh more. They trust more. There's an ease about them, they're comfortable in their own skin. They don't have to be right. They don't play power games.

- Converted people have a love and respect for every human person and for every aspect of God's creation.

When I was reflecting on some of these points I began to realise yet again that we're called to conversion every day because none of us have ever arrived. We all need to experience transformation in so many ways. The Good News is that we're not alone on the journey. God is with us and will give us all we need daily to become converted people. So just in case you've forgotten the title of this article - Have you been knocked off your horse lately? If you haven't maybe you need to ask God to help you see where conversion needs to happen in you this day.

<< Top Home >>

Fr Chris Thomas