The only way through the gates and into fellowship with God is through Jesus. That being said, I suppose the first and essential conversion in the Life would be this: That there is a Gate through which God is found.
I know folks who read books backwards. They pick it up and instantly turn to the last chapter to get the ending. Some do that with spiritual things as well. They seek to have intimacy with the Creator without going through the Gate, without starting at the beginning. Then, when they get there, it makes entirely no sense to them. Consequently they give up and become disenfranchised. They may even walk away saying stuff like, "I knew all that stuff was phony," or, "I didn't understand a thing they were doing."
Only when you begin at the beginning can intimacy be realized, embraced - but never understood.
Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)
How we hem and haw, seeking to get into God's presence our own ways! We devise cleaver passages, portals of assurance, and superstitious rites that sometimes even hurt. But God is true. If he says "go through the Gate," then that's what it takes. To many, this is a huge step. It involves shelving all preconceived notions on how to get to God and essentially buy into, or convert your behavior, towards that one narrow place.
And why wouldn't there be a direct, specified way to the heart of God? Our life is filled with "specified's," isn't it? We have to drive one side of the road or we'll crash, we can't drink liquids too hot or they'll burn our tongues, and so on down the line. Yet when it comes to spiritual things some think they have the upper hand. "I'll find God my own way," they say. And most of these "my own ways" are in direct conflict with the way he has already set things up.
We've all been there. Some seek spirituality through mushrooms, rocks, or some other energy force. At the end of the day these efforts are either short-lived, or worse, they invite demons into the seeker. Either way, our own efforts to get right with God fall short. If you're like me, the day you gave the Gate a second look, a deeper consideration, and perhaps a step in that general direction things got a whole lot clearer, easier, and (dare I say) graceful?
I have heard so many people say how easy it was to get into God after they've entered through the Gate, how thankful they were and how their hearts were filled with praise as the crossed over the the threshold into his courts.
"So much time waisted!" They regret. "Why didn't someone tell me sooner!" "It's all been done for me - I just had to walk through what he's already opened for me!"
They say stuff like that.
So it's a little conversion, and it certainly stands in the shadow of our next conversion (the all essential conversion) that we'll hit in the next BLOG. But it's a conversion all the same. Without the essential stepping through the Gate, none of the other conversions can even happen.