|
Kevin,
Excellent thoughts. I really hadn't walked that far down the road on the actual process of conversion yet.
I'm just struck by the effect that the Word of God has on two audiences in Acts - the hearers at Pentecost who were "...cut to the heart..." and believed and the Pharisees who heard Steven and were "...cut to the heart..." and gnashed their teeth at him and stoned him. I think both were examples of faithful proclamation of the Word where the Spirit enlightened one group and hardened another. That statement was in reference to the hope that God would give us hearts of flesh.
Reading your thoughts above made me think a bit more about the conversion experiences of Paul and Isaiah who saw Christ in His blazing glory. It seems that the above fits with some of my musings on the effect it seemed to have on them to be tireless for the Gospel. I was reflecting that our experience of Christ in His Word is an unmasking process where we can see Him more clearly as we meditate on His Word and encounter Him there through the power of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps Paul and Isaiah were not fully converted at the time they saw Christ but I have to think that it certainly accelerated it much further down the road than most of us will experience with decades of study, prayer, and piety.
|