Conversion

MON., APR. 1, 1991, 5:30 AM
FARM, STUDY

Yes, o son, I brought you to this desk and pad this morning, even as you need sleep for the time of convention that lies ahead. It shall be a busy time, but, as you could see yesterday, you have not come to this time of learning with the frequency you assert. So, I shall send you on your way with some advice about the convention mode and some preliminary ideas about your sermon message at Synod School.

You do not feel excited about this adventure in the Far West. Your convention going has begun to recede, and you must accept this change. Oh, when you get there you shall enter into the spirit of various groups, but you know that if you had elected not to go, the time could be spent with equal value and satisfaction. Life patterns change. Your time of teaching is shortening, and you need to give this rather full attention. Oh, you could teach the classes without much additional preparation, but when you take time to consider individuals and the best balances for time in class, then you are doing what I want for you.

Your main reason for continuing to go to conventions is to keep up with the spiritual development of some of your colleagues, age-mates and those younger… former students. So remember to talk as much as possible about matter spiritual… or considering the spiritual dimension to health issues.

In a sense this is a slow conversion for you. You are firmly established as a senior authority in your field. (You could enhance this with some papers for which I have pushed, but I’ll just mention this rather than bugging you further.) Now you are in conversion to one who investigates this important spiritual dimension to health by hearing stories of how the spirit affects professional lives. This conversion began some years ago, but it now should be moving along faster. You have a feel for what you should be doing, but you still hang to old patterns. Move out, say I.

Conversion is shifting from one way of being to another. It also implies that the way to which you convert is superior to the one you’re giving up. Yet often this difference is not easily apparent. Or, there are some good and comfortable aspects to your present mode, and the “new one”, though more desirable, is risky.

You appreciate My servant Paul, of old. His conversion was dramatic, rather sudden, and without obvious motivation on his part. He came to know that he had been chosen, and that this was to a life quite different from what he had led. He was chosen because he was not a moderate man, but one of the “extreme.” His task was to develop, in peoples minds and spirits, a new criterion for relationship with Me – the grace that emanated from Easter morning. The laws and rules still applied, but the order had changed. Now you accept Christ and His grace, and then you keep the laws out of appreciation.

I used these writings of Paul to call you from a good, reasonably faithful churchman to one born again in knowledge of My way. Then, more dramatically, I called you to this special form of meditation and offered you the task of helping to reintroduce the spiritual dimension to your secular health field. You are doing this but too moderately. You needn’t be brazen about it, but you should be more true to this call that you acknowledge. Get people to talk about the spirit in their profession, in their workplace, and in their own lives. You can do this gently, but with more consistency.

I’ll let you decide how personal you want to be in your Synod School message. It would be wonderfully bold of you to reveal your own conversion story. Would that push you too far away from others with no such experiences? Of course. Would it bring forth the expression of experiences in others that would otherwise remain “hidden?” Very probably. Which benefit shall you go for?