Committing My life to Christ

Firstly, let me explain the expression “committing my life to Christ”. I grew up in Roman Catholic Ireland, and I was brought up as a Roman Catholic. It was widely believed that everyone was a Christian by default in Ireland, but in school, we’d hear stories of conversions. These would be famous saints, such as Saint Francis of Assisi. Telling people that I’ve committed my life to Christ might sound like I see myself as someone who is particularly godly, but all I mean by it is repenting and trusting in Jesus. This is something that we’re all called to do.

By repenting, I don’t just mean repenting of specific sins. In its broad sense, it’s more a matter of accepting the fact that I sin and can never earn salvation or even contribute to my own salvation. I want to turn from sin and live a life of love and obedience, but I know I will always fall short. So, I turned to Jesus for salvation when I was 18. Let’s say that you’re struggling in the cold sea and a lifeguard comes in to rescue you. He asks you to stop struggling and depend on him if you really want to be rescued. That’s precisely what I wanted to do.

Salvation is a gift. Jesus paid it all.

Why was that such a hard decision? Wasn’t I a Christian because I was baptised as a baby? No. That makes you a nominal Christian. On a positive note, it encourages your family and the community to bring you up to know and love Christ, but you yourself will be subject to all kinds of influences. And you need to decide if you’re going to go with the flow or follow Jesus. It’s much easier to go with the flow. My impression of Ireland is that most people are agnostic in their thinking, though nominally Catholic. That’s more obvious now than it was in 1980. And even prior to that, when, perhaps Ireland was more religious, you could be religious without having a personal faith in Jesus. In the New Testament, the Scribes and Pharisees were very religious, but they didn’t welcome Jesus into their lives.

So, committing my life to Christ meant depending on him for my salvation and committing myself to loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to loving my neighbour as myself. It would be much easier not to bother doing that, or to do it when I feel like it.

Then, there was social pressure from friends and family, who discouraged me from making such a decision. Most of my friends and acquaintances were nice people but they generally put God out of the picture. Religious people were seen as a little peculiar. They were OK with someone going off to be a priest, nun, or monk, but they didn’t show any enthusiasm towards God in everyday life.

Also, when I got to know the New Testament, and evangelical Christians, I believed that evangelical Christians were much more aligned to New Testament Christianity than the mainstream denominations were. I wanted to surround myself with people who would encourage me in my faith. It’s true that some evangelical groups are a bit extreme, silly or naïve or whatever, but they’re many good groups too. As part of my commitment to follow Christ, I wanted to attend an evangelical church. In Ireland, unlike some countries, you don’t get murdered or ostracized if you change your religion. But your family might get upset.

Back in 1980, many people in Ireland didn’t know what evangelical churches were. Some might have seen them as little different from religious cults. Others might have seen them as Protestant, and many would have frowned on Roman Catholics becoming Protestant. Irish people were proud of resisting protestant teaching at the reformation. And they identified Protestants with rich English people who were seen as their oppressors – though many famous Irish rebels, such as Wolfe Tone were Protestant.

Another factor that made the decision difficult is that I had an idealized notion of what committing my life to Christ was. I pictured myself as someone who would need to be completely transformed. But soon I learned that though I will be completely transformed in heaven, down here, I’ll be far from perfect, which is why I need a Saviour.

New Testament Christians were committed to following Christ, but some were more successful than others. One of my favourite parables is the sower. Here is the parable – and the explanation. A key point that Jesus makes, is that even when the seed falls on good soil and yields fruit, the results vary.

Matthew 13:1-8 and 18-23
13 On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside. ² Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach. ³ He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow. ⁴ As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸ Others fell on good soil and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. 

¹⁸ “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside. ²⁰ What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it; ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. ²² What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. ²³ What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

I wonder does anyone congratulate themselves for bearing more fruit than everyone else? You can see that in the parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector. The key verse in that is “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”. And there is never a time (at least in this life) when we don’t feel the need to say that.

I probably spent about five years putting off the decision to commit my life to Christ. In the early stages, I was simply examining the views of different religions and denominations, but in the later stages, it was much clearer to me that it was about following Jesus rather than picking the right religion.

By August 1980, when I was 18. I asked myself if I want to spend my whole life dithering and being indecisive. I was quite impressed with evangelical churches, but as in any movement, you’d meet people that were a bit annoying. Maybe I was annoying myself at times. But I was committed to following Christ, not a specific movement or denomination.

I’ve outlines the sequence of events leading up to my conversion in my Conversion Chronology post.

And here are two Bob Dylan songs from albums that I bought in the months leading up to my conversion. I wish that Dylan had recorded more Christian material. Maybe the Holy Spirit inspired him in a special way at that time.