Conversion Is God’s Work

It can be discouraging when you talk to people about Christ and no one listens to you. Maybe you’ve tried to share the gospel with family members, and they don’t respond. Sometimes you feel like saying, “Just forget about it. If they don’t want to hear what I have to say, then I won’t tell anyone.”

A farmer can be discouraged after he plants a crop and a storm uproots all the seed, or when a drought comes and the crop doesn’t take root. But then when he has a bumper crop, it is all worth it, and he plants again.

In the same way, we can tell and tell and tell people about Jesus Christ, and nothing seems to happen. Then one day, one person gets it, and he or she believes. Then we see the joy of someone coming to faith.

Jesus said there is joy in Heaven over one sinner who comes to repentance (see Luke 15:7). We are told in Psalm 126:5, “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.”

God is the one who saves people, not us. I know this seems rather obvious, but frankly, sometimes we forget it. God will prepare a person’s heart to hear and receive the gospel. As Jesus said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father” (John 6:65).

Conversion is not something we do. It is not something we bring about through our persuasive words or clever arguments. The Lord must prepare the heart of the person we are speaking to. Sometimes we’ll sow a little seed of the gospel, and other times we’ll have the privilege of reaping where others have sown and watered. But it is God who does the work of conversion.