Acts 3:19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. 

Harold Begbie wrote a book in 1909 entitled, “Twice-Born Men: A Clinic In Regeneration.” In the book, he wrote about the radical change that is brought about in people’s lives by the grace of God. He shares short stories about lives that were changed, through the work of people serving in the Salvation Army in those days.

In the preface of the book, there are several key statements that set the stage for the stories that follow:

“No heart is pure that is not passionate; no virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic.”

“Conversion is the only means by which a radically bad person can be changed into a radically good person.”

“It produces not a change, but a revolution in character. It does not alter, it creates a new personality.”

“At the very heart of conversion is a wild joy. A soul consciously unhappy has become consciously happy. A soul bound and in prison has been loosed and set free.”

In a story entitled “The Puncher” he shared a true accounting of a prize fighter in those days in London.  He was a fighting man in every regard. His anger got the best of him though and his temper was unmanageable. He took on every challenger in the prize fighting arena, and beat them all.

His character was so incorrigible that he would often enter the ring drunk and still be able to fight. When his days of prize fighting began to come to a close, he started to look for something else to do. So he became a member of a gang. Trouble soon came from the law and in one year, he was arrested seventeen different times. As you might imagine, he was a hard man to live with and his wife and his children suffered greatly.

At one point he was sentenced to hard labor in prison. When he completed his sentence and left the prison, he was worse than when he went in. He determined he would murder his wife, and end his life. He met up with someone from the Salvation Army who knew him. The man said to him plainly, “God has got a better life for you, and you know it.” God began to work in his heart and a wave of shame came over him. He was stunned with how evil he really was. He set out for a meeting where the Salvation Army was.

At the end of the meeting, he rose from his seat, bowed before God, and like the man in the parable cried out to God, that He would be merciful to him, a sinner. Immediately he felt clean. God had converted his wretched soul, and given him new life. News spread quickly of this man’s life change. His home changed dramatically. God gave him a love for souls.

Begbie went on to write, “To be converted is only a new beginning of something greater.”

Don’t ever underestimate the power of God to convert the soul of a person. Don’t ever underestimate the power of God to change your life. Look to Him in faith, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will change your life now and for eternity.

God calls us to be His servants in making the Good News known!