“The church must suffer for speaking the truth, for pointing out sin, for uprooting sin. No one wants to have a sore spot touched, and therefore a society with so many sores twitches when someone has the courage to touch it and say: “You have to treat that. You have to get rid of that. Believe in Christ. Be converted.”
– Oscar A. Romero, The Violence of Love
Everyone has seen the marketing strategy of the “before and after shot”. For diet products, it’s usually a flabby waist line in one shot trimmed down to the svelte 6 pack in the next. Or it’s the picture of a retro, run-down kitchen compared to its refurbished, modern version. We use these before and afters in our marketing too.
Why do these types of marketing strategies work? Because everyone loves a good conversion story, right? We like the idea that something old, fat, ugly, or sick can transform into something fresh, new, beautiful, and healthy.
That’s why this type of marketing works and why every major product on the market touts some amazing transformation at its very core. We need to know that we can change our current situation into something bigger and better. We need to feel that we can give our financial status, our outward appearance, our negative relationships, or health outcomes a major makeover.
Yet, all of these before and after transformations only deal with outward changes and they mean nothing if a spiritual conversion hasn’t taken place. Unfortunately, you’ll never find a miracle spiritual makeover pill on the market. It’s something that has to come from within and for some it’s much harder than you than you think.
In the next few weeks, we’re going to discuss the process of conversion and how it’s different for everyone. For some, the revelation was like being hit by a bolt of lightning and for others it was simply a slow awakening.
Regardless, whether accepting Christ into your heart hit you like Mack Truck or it simply snuck up on you, I’m sure you will agree that after Christ entered your life, nothing was ever the same again.
