When Thou Art Converted
“When thou
art converted, strengthen thy brethren,” the Savior once admonished Peter. Had he said this shortly after calling the
young apostle to follow him, the charge would not have been surprising. But this admonition comes near the end of the
Savior’s ministry (Luke 22:32). Peter
had been following the Savior for nearly three years, had left behind his
prosperous fishing business, and had even walked a few steps on water. That’s pretty impressive stuff for someone who
hasn’t yet been converted.
What can we
learn from this? Certainly, one critical
truth is that without the gift of the Holy Ghost—which Peter would not receive
until after the Savior’s resurrection—we cannot be fully converted. But I wonder if the Savior isn’t also
teaching all of his disciples that we have more room for spiritual growth and
even conversion than we might think. To
know the Church is true is one thing, but according to Elder David A. Bednar, “True
conversion brings a change in one’s beliefs, heart, and life to accept and
conform to the will of God (see Acts 3:19; 3 Nephi 9:20) and includes a
conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ.”
Watching
such spiritual growth occur in each of you—and doing whatever Sister Eaton and
I can to facilitate it—is one of the most rewarding and important parts of our
current calling. Our aim is not only to
have more lasting conversions among the non-members of this mission, but first
and foremost to have them among the missionaries. I was recently reminded of how missions can
transform even the best of missionaries when we received letters recently from
our daughter who is serving a mission.
She was a marvelous young woman before her mission and is a great
missionary now. But she wrote asking
each of us for forgiveness in very specific ways for things like having been
selfish or unkind at times. These were
not the confessions of someone hoping to “clear things up” or “take care” of
something so they could check a box; they were evidence of repentance born of a
deepening faith in Christ.
My daughter’s actions were an
example to me, an impressive reminder that faith and repentance are not
one-time prerequisites to baptism but principles and practices that “when
repeated throughout life . . . become an increasingly rewarding pattern of
living” (Preach My Gospel, 6). She prefaced her request by saying that she
was striving to understand and apply the Atonement more in her own life,
because of this truth in Preach My Gospel:
“As your understanding [and I might add, your appreciation and application] of
the Atonement grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase” (p. 2).
So my
invitation to you is along the lines of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians
13:5: Examine yourselves and assess the
depth of your own conversion. After all,
those who will ultimately reside in the presence of Heavenly Father in
celestial glory will have developed an accurate sense of who they are and how
far they have traveled. They will “see
as they are seen and know as they are known” (D&C 76:94). For some of us, this includes discovering you
are doing much better than you
realize. But others may learn that even
though they are on the right path and heading in the right direction, they may
have more room for improvement than they think.
Here are a
few questions that might help you as you conduct your own conversion inventory:
Ø
How much do I truly love Heavenly Father and his
children?
Ø
How much gratitude do I feel for the
Atonement? In fact, how grateful am I
generally?
Ø
How often do I remember the Savior? “For how knoweth a man the master whom he has
not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and
intents of his heart?” (Mos. 5:13)
Ø
How single is my eye to the glory of God? What is it that truly drives me? What thoughts occupy my mind when I don’t
have to think about anything else?
Ø
How much do I seek the praise of men rather than
the approval of God? If no one knew but
God knew how hard I worked or what good I did, would I work any less? Do I work as hard and obey as much when no
one else sees my efforts?
Ø
How meaningful are my prayers? When I pray, how real is the idea that I am
personally addressing God, the Father of the Creator of the universe? How much more respectful and focused would I
be if I were having an actual conversation with the Prophet, an apostle, or
even my stake president?
That list is far from
comprehensive. The bullet points on
pages 10 and 11 of Preach My Gospel are
fairly good indicators of conversion as well as missionary success. And the scriptures are full of other
questions you might ask as part of such an inventory.
Hopefully, your inventory will
leave you with both some satisfaction about how far you have come, but also
with a desire to continue to the climb to become the kind of truly converted
disciple the Savior needs. To help guide
you on that journey, may I recommend a masterful talk by Elder Richard G.
Scott: “Full Conversion Brings
Happiness,” from the April 2002 General Conference.
As each of us seeks, with God’s
help, to draw nearer to God and deepen our own conversions, we will be more
powerful instruments in his hands to help others enjoy the fruits of their own
lasting conversions.