that context is Christ. Although the outward signs at the moment of true conversion may be less than dramatic, the gradual effects will be monumental. Like a pebble cast in the center of a lake, the ripple effect of the gospel will eventually reach the full circumference of the believer’s life and touch every shore. The true convert does not receive the gospel as an addition to his previous life, but in exchange for it. To receive one is to lose the other. This is the clear teaching of Jesus: “For