Knowing the Day and the Hour

Oh soul are you weary and troubled

No light in the darkness you see

There’s light for a look at the Savior

And life more abundant and free 

An Insistence on Crisis-Conversions

Many a preacher in evangelical circles will insist that if you cannot point to the day, hour, location, what you had for breakfast, what temperature it was in Chicago, when you first believed then you are not saved. In the theology of crisis-conversion they seek to make up for your lack of a crisis-conversion by imposing one upon you. By insisting you must know these things the preacher has created a doubt within you and thus it results in a crisis of faith. You begin to doubt the genuineness of your faith and your Pastor finally has his doctrinal satisfaction in seeing you in distress to struggle for assurance in Christ. Well, he may not intend for this to be so but this is all too common. I am one of those who can tell you when, where, what I was doing and what I did afterward when I came to faith—I even know what kind of shoes I was wearing. I might be the only person to ever have been converted from the same words that came out of Pilate’s mouth when he asked, “What is truth?” Those were the last words I spoke as an enemy of God. As powerful as that story is, and there is much more to it, I will never insist that you or any believer must have a similar story. Why? Well, Martin Luther gave a great response to the doubter of his salvation and I will borrow his example. 

Is the Sun Up? 

Unless you know the time when the sun arose you are not in the day. This is the demand of some preachers. Well friend, there is an easy solution to this riddle. Look up! Is it daytime? If your hope of being in the daytime solely rests upon whether you can point to the moment the sun arose then your hope is not one that is focused on the reality of the sun shining upon you but your hope rests on you, the recipient, as if you made the sun rise yourself. Such theology comes from a history of evangelism that started with an ‘anxious bench’ which led to the altar call—see Charles Finney. The departing from the catechism and insistence upon crisis-conversion became what was expected to be as the norm. Almost 2000 years of church practice done away with. Catechesis is based on the reality of growth and that God works through means. “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:7, 8). “Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden” (1 Tim. 5:25). The truth of real conversion is not whether or not seed fell upon the soil, but whether or not the seed has grown to bear fruit. 

Accept the Timothy Among You 

From what we can see of Timothy he had a ‘boring’ conversion. His grandmother was a believer, his mother was a believer, he was raised on the Scriptures, and has no record of a Pauline-like conversion. This is a good thing. Christian parents ought to preach the gospel to their children. They should not teach their children to doubt their faith. When a little child sings about forgiveness in Christ, on his own, your first reaction should not be to doubt him. When your child says they want to be baptized don’t push them back because they haven’t met your requirements of a true confession of faith. Be careful you that are not teaching them to doubt. Perhaps you were raised by missionary parents and can’t remember a time when you did not believe. Great! God actually does do what he said he would do. Even babes and infants can know God, they are made in his image after all. 

Conclusion

Is the sun up? Do you desire the things of God? Take heart. The natural man does not submit to God’s law. If you truly, biblically, are loving God and your neighbor how could it not be that the sun is up?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace

Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunrise