us immediate results . If I have complete and unwavering faith in my car ’ s brakes , I have peace of mind — right now — before I even put my foot on the brake . My faith gives that reality to me in the present . Stopping safely is the thing I hope for , and my assurance that it will happen alleviates my fears .
An atheist once asked me what converted me to Christ . He said that before he was an atheist , he was “ converted ” through reading the New Testament — as though that was the ultimate way of salvation . While many have come to faith through reading the New Testament , Scripture itself isn ’ t the actual converting agent . In the first century after Christ , multitudes came to faith in Jesus before the New Testament existed . Their faith wasn ’ t an acknowledgment that the Jesus in the New Testament was the Christ ; it was a trust in the living Savior . Their hearts were transformed by the power of the gospel so that they were new creatures in Christ .
If our conversion experience is merely intellectual , it will only be a matter of time until someone with a better intellectual argument causes us to stumble . We will have no shield of faith to resist the flaming arrows of the devil . Faith is the first and last step of the Christian walk .
A Christian is someone who was once dead and is now alive in Christ because Jesus saved them from the power of death . Is that your experience ? Is it your conviction ? Do you know that you ’ ve passed from death to life ? Because if it isn ’ t your experience ,
32