AUGUSTINE’S CONVERSION

Rom. 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

What a powerful thought from Paul; put on Christ like you would put on a new set of clothes. From the day of your conversion until you stand before The Lord, we must put on Christ everyday. Like a fresh garment of clothes, we must put on Christ. The word of God is the vehicle the Holy Spirit uses in putting on Christ in our daily lives. We may not be “feeling” His presence but His word is strong and always new. It is alive and active and brings us into contact with the Living God everyday. Here is the historic conversion of Augustine as recorded in Barclay’s commentary on Romans. Enjoy!

“The last verses of this passage must be forever famous, for it was through them Augustine found conversion. He tells the story in his Confessions. He was walking in the garden. His heart was in distress, because of his failure to live the good life. He kept exclaiming miserably ‘How long? Tomorrow and tomorrow – why not now? Why not this hour an end to my depravity?’ Suddenly he heard a voice saying, ‘ Take and read; take and read.’ It sounded like a child’s voice; and he racked his mind trying to remember any child’s game in which these words occurred, but could think of none. He hurried back to the seat where his friend Alypius was sitting, for he had left there a volume of Paul’s writings. ‘I snatched it up and read silently the first passage my eyes fell upon: ‘Let us not walk in revelry or drunkenness, in immorality and in shamelessness, in contention and in strife. But put on The Lord Jesus Christ, as a man puts on a garment, and stop living a life in which in which your first thought is to gratify the desires of the Christless human nature’. I neither wished nor needed to read further. With the end of that sentence, as though the light of assurance had poured within my heart, all the shades of doubt were scattered. I put my finger in the page and closed the book: I turned to Alypius with a calm countenance and told him.’ Out of his word God had spoken to Augustine. It was Coleridge who said that he believed the Bible to be inspired because, as he puts it, ‘ It finds me.’ God’s word can always find the human heart.”

The Lord is always speaking from His written word. Go ahead, give it a try. Open up your Bible and listen for His voice. You can put on this new suit of clothes that will prepare you for your day.