You can’t choose your own birthday! Nobody yet has been able to do that. By the time we get here, our birthday has already been chosen. And, in spite of the progress in modern medical science, it’s not easy to choose someone else’s birthday either.

Conversion is called the new birth. It’s the beginning of spiritual life. And just as in the physical life, you cannot choose your own spiritual birthday.

When my son was in the academy, I decided it was time for him to become converted. I sat him down one day, intending to do the job. It didn’t work. We both ended up frustrated. I had forgotten the first principle in conversion-that it is the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot convert ourselves, nor can we convert someone else.

“This change can be brought about only by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit.” - The Desire of Ages, p. 172.

Young people have often misunderstood what conversion really is. Some have looked for a Damascus Road experience, forgetting that even Paul needed three silent years in the desert of Arabia before he was ready to begin his public ministry. At the other extreme, others aren’t sure whether they’ve been converted at all, but assume they must have been since they were raised within the church.

Some have made a commitment to Christ, and when they have not found themselves miraculously changed in character the morning after the night before, they conclude they were not converted and wait for the next emotional appeal to try it again.

To find a definition for conversion, then, becomes extremely important. Conversion is a work of the Holy Spirit, and it produces a change of attitude toward God. When was the prodigal son converted? While he was in the pigpen. And where was the prodigal son immediately after his conversion? Still in the pigpen! Someone usually adds at that point, “But he didn’t stay there long.”

That’s true. But what changed at his conversion? It was his attitude. He still had a long way to go to reach his father’s house, but his attitude toward his father underwent a major change. And that change of attitude prepared the way for the rest of the changes that followed.

Conversion creates a new capacity for knowing God. No one is able to eat or breathe for themselves until they are born. And while it is possible to hasten the process of conversion by placing yourself in an atmosphere of spiritual things, the attempt at a devotional life will be nothing but boring and hard work until you are born spiritually. First Corinthians 2:14 says,

“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” - 1 Corinthians 2:14

One of the miracles that the Holy Spirit accomplishes at the time of conversion is to create a new capacity for knowing God.

“In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This will purify the heart and renew the mind, giving us a new capacity for knowing and loving God.” - The Desire of Ages, p. 189.

It doesn’t matter if you come from a background of atheists or genuine Christians, you must be born again in order to see the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3,

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

And you can know whether or not you have been converted. It is true that conversions differ just as our human emotional machinery differs, but the experience of conversion is still distinctive.

“Little by little, perhaps unconsciously to the receiver, impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to Christ. These may be received through meditating upon Him, through reading the Scriptures, or through hearing the word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus.” - The Desire of Ages, p. 172.

Has the “suddenly” happened to you as yet? Have you been depending on your good behavior, your position in the church, or your Christian heritage to insure you salvation?

Or have you been focusing on your weaknesses and mistakes and concluding on that basis that you have never been converted?

When you understand what conversion is, you can know whether or not you have been converted.