Martin Luther, the great 16th century Protestant reformer once challenged the faithful with this thought…
“There are three conversions necessary in the Christian life: the conversion of the heart, [the conversion of] the mind, and [the conversion of] the purse.”
The reality is… for many of us… it may be easy for us to allow our minds to be changed first. That is often how it works for a lot of people today, especially in our rational society. In fact, I think that for many of us it is even a little safer for us to allow our minds to be changed and converted on to God’s agenda. But no matter what, we must be convinced intellectually to some degree that God is TRUTH and His Word is TRUTH!
Now, I have said before that the hardest journey is the 12 inch journey from the head to the heart. As Luther points out in the process of becoming who God desires us to be our hearts must be transformed. Our hearts must become aligned with God’s desires and purposes and not our own. Our hearts must become linked to God’s priority. When what we believe intellectually becomes an embedded reality in our hearts we begin to seek God’s purposes and follow His leading in this journey.
Finally, Luther points out that the once our heads and hearts are aligned that the toughest journey is still ahead and that is the conversion of the purse. Now, I have been known to say it this way:
The journey of faith involved the 12 inch journey from the head to the heart and from the heart to the hands and feet!
You see… the reality is simply this, if we just keep our faith at a head and heart level then what happens is our faith can remain personal and individual. Faith can simply remain individual and that is NEVER what God desires it to be. Our faith is both personal and corporate. It involves us being engaged in the world together with other brothers and sisters of faith and that is what this final conversion is all about. It is about the transformation of our hearts and minds to the point that it affects our hands and feet... and our time... talents... and treasures. One way to see "IF" faith has made its way to our hands and feet is to see if our "purses" are affected by our faith. I have said it this way... let me see a person's checkbook and I will be able to tell you how deeply embedded their faith and trust is in Christ! The truth is... unless our purses are converted our faith can simply remain on a personal level... not moving beyond our own 14 square feet of air space we occupy on this planet but that is never how God intended it to be. Christ came to serve and not to be served, to give and not be given to and that means for His people our lives need to reflect the same ideals and realities.
The full journey of faith involves all three steps… and if it stalls out at any one of the steps it will be less than what God desires our faith to be! So it is important for each of us to make sure that we check our life’s journey to make sure that we are on the right path and that we are moving in the right direction!
On the journey together…
Rev Trev
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