Conversion

The Grace of ConversionLuke 13:6-9

Copyrighted material that appears in this article is included under the provisions of the Fair Use Clause of the National Copyright Act, which allows limited reproduction of copyrighted materials for educational and religious use when no financial charge is made for viewing. Catholic Lectionary. (2009). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

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In Luke13:6-9 we hear Jesus asking for another opportunity to convert the fig tree into a fruitful tree.The word conversion literally means to turn around to change direction.Eugene ONeil said, A man is born broken, he lives by mending, the grace of God is the glue.John Newton was such a man.John was born on July 24, 1725 and by 1744 he was a midshipman on a British man-of-war.He deserted, was captured, publicly flogged and demoted to common seaman.John then became a servant of a slave trader and was brutally abused. By 1748 he became a captain on another slave ship.On the homeward bound trip Johns ship became engulfed in a violent storm and it became evident that the ship would sink.

He recorded in his journal that when all seemed lost and the ship would surely sink, he exclaimed, Lord, have mercy upon us. Later in his cabin he thought about what he had said and began to believe that God had spoken to him through the storm and that grace had begun to work in him. John continued in the slave trade but made sure that the slaves on his ship were treated humanely.

The Lord continued to guide him.He married in 1755 and walked away from his slave ship and into the Anglican church where he would become a clergyman for the rest of his life.He became a huge success, so much so, that the church in Buckinghamshire had to be enlarged.In his lifetime he authored more than 280 hymns

Nearing death his final composition is now found on his grave stone.John Newton, ClericOnce an Infidel and LibertineA servant of slaves in Africa was, by the rich mercy of out Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, preserved, Restored and pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.Perhaps one of the most well know of his hymns was

Amazing grace how sweet the sound,That saved a wretch like me!I once was lost, but now am found,Was blind but now I see.John Newton came to understand how amazing, how marvelous is Gods grace.Just like the fig tree in Lk. 13, we are all in Gods hands and receivers of his unbounding grace and love.