With a Subtitle: How God draws different people to Christ through grace, truth, and transformation

A brief Excerpt: Can two very different testimonies both reflect genuine salvation? This post explores heart change, transformed lives, and how God uniquely draws sinners to Christ in His perfect timing.

The Author is: Jeff Hilles

I received a note from a reader recently asking an intriguing question based on how believers are drawn to Christ. He presented examples of two individuals’ testimonies (summarized below), and then asked a question.

Person #1: A Dramatic Conversion and New Life in Christ

He grew up agnostic, chasing status, money, and power rather than God. That path eventually led to prison at age 35, where he had lost nearly everything—his family, friends, finances, and even his former respect for the law.

In prison, he encountered Jesus and came to see that life was not meant to be lived for his own ambition but for Christ. As he grasped God’s grace, he repented deeply of his old life and experienced the love of Christ in a life-changing way.

When he was released years later, his faith remained strong. He devoted his life to serving others and boldly proclaiming Jesus, always remembering that Christ met him in his darkest hour and that God’s grace, not his own strength, set him free.

Person #2: From Intellectual Faith to Heart-Level Surrender

He grew up in a Christian home and heard the gospel often, so he believed the right things from a young age. He knew salvation was by grace through faith, prayed the sinner’s prayer, and learned Scripture, but his faith stayed mostly intellectual. God seemed real in theory yet distant in daily life, and his identity was shaped more by achievement, respectability, and success than by Christ.

As an adult, he began sensing repeated inner promptings to obey God in costly ways—giving more, serving the poor, and speaking about Jesus. At first he resisted, treating those promptings more like guilt than grace. But over time he slowly obeyed, even when it felt difficult and unwelcome, as God worked to break down the walls around his heart.

Eventually, he experienced the love of God in a deeply personal way. For the first time, he truly believed in his heart, not just his mind, that he was loved by God. He came to see that God was not distant but near, personal, and worthy of every part of his life. He began to see grace as both the way of salvation and the reality that shapes all of life.

The Question

“My question is this: do you think both people can be Christians?”

“If so, do you think they might have different experiences when they read Ephesians 2:8-11? Perhaps one of them will emphasize God’s grace in saving sinners, while the other will be especially present to what Bonhoeffer wrote about “costly grace” vs. ‘cheap grace.'”

My Answer

Salvation Is a Heart Change, Not Just Head Knowledge

To begin, Christians are imperfect sinners and lack the tools or skills to assess someone else’s spiritual heart. Having said that, we are called to be fruit-checkers in the sense that we should focus our evangelistic efforts on those who are receptive to the gospel message and, by their actions, seem to be missing a relationship with Christ (James 2:17). From that perspective, it is important not to be dogmatic on who is and who is not “saved” from the examples you offered.

Salvation is a heart change, not a head change, and it is demonstrated by a transformed life.

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

This new life should result in changes in our behavior as we, through the Holy Spirit, conform more and more (sanctification) to the image of Christ.

Colossians 3:10 - [We] put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Person #1: A Dramatic Conversion and New Life in Christ

So, to the first person in your example, a dramatic event took place in his life, and the transformation he experienced remained with him, it would seem, from that day forward. Yes, from what you wrote, I would say he was saved.

Though I did not spend time in prison, this first person closely represents my life. I was an atheist up until around 30 years old. I was belligerent toward born-again Christians, believing their faith to be a cover to defend their failure to achieve life goals through their own efforts. Though it took two years of apologetics, my salvation was truly an event when I finally accepted Christ from the heart rather than, for months before, believing He was real with my head yet not wanting to bend to His will (just like the demons in James 2:19).

Person #2: From Intellectual Faith to Heart-Level Surrender

Regarding the second person, there are many who grow up in a “Christian home” and are exposed to the gospel at a young age. They hear about God and Jesus at home, at church, at Sunday School, at camp, etc. If they are homeschooled or go to a Christian school, that focus on teaching a Christian worldview is intensified. In the early ages of life, children look up to their parents and desire to please them. Often parents are looking for signs of their kids’ spiritual development, as are Sunday School teachers and church staff members. This environment is ripe for a false profession of faith and resulting baptism and further induction into the Christian silo.

I have written in the past about the pros and cons of the benefits and risks of early and perhaps easy beliefism. And, in fact, my youngest daughter got baptized twice for this very reason. She was “saved” by a young boy in our neighborhood, and, as young Christians ourselves, my wife and I were too quick to have her baptized and considered born-again. Much later in life, she got baptized again after truly understanding the decision she was making and wishing to then follow in the ordinance of baptism (which holds no power in and of itself).

So I think the second person is also saved based on what you have written. Perhaps he was a victim of being identified falsely as a believer in his early years but later in life did truly ask Jesus to come into his life, forgive him of his sins, and accept Christ as both his Savior and Lord.

God Draws People to Christ in Different Ways and Different Seasons

Conclusion

More than asking the question of whether one or both were saved by the end of their lives, your illustrations of these two individuals point out the fact that God uniquely, and in His own time, draws people to Himself. Some experience a “Damascus Road Event” like Paul (Acts 9:3-6). Others take a lifetime to come to Him, even on their deathbeds, such as the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43). And, of course, everyone in between.

What Matters Most Is Coming to Christ Before Death

Given that our time is but a fleeting moment compared to eternity (James 4:14), what is important is that we accept Christ before we leave this earthly body of ours (2 Corinthians 5:8).