Is Our Conversion Real?

Many years ago I read a book about a Christian man who was in prison, I assume for his faith but I don't remember, who led another prisoner to the Lord. After the other prisoner said the salvation prayer, he spent three days and nights pacing in his cell, crying out to God until he finally knew he was saved. If I'm remembering the story correctly, the author thought it was an evidence of the accumulated prayers of previous generations that in his lifetime this struggle was no longer necessary but that people were able to embrace their salvation after a simple prayer. I would like to propose that, while many do have a true conversion experience that is concluded with a simple prayer of repentance, many more are led to believe that they've had a true conversion experience when all they've done is acknowledged with their minds that God is God.

A true conversion experience is a change of heart and without a change of heart there is not true conversion. I have often said that I am glad when my nieces and nephews struggle with their salvation because I don't want them to just inherit it, I want them to own it. This is the same thing in my mind.

True conversion is life-changing. It isn't simply knowing that you're going to heaven. It must involve a radical shift in your thinking and a new understanding of how you are loved and how to love others. If our Christianity has never affected our lives in this way, then each of us individually needs to revisit our conversion.