"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!" Romans 11:33

When it comes to the transformation of our mind, the type of transformation we all expect after we meet Christ is the fast transformation. It was the case of the Apostle Paul who automatically started working with the disciples of Christ after persecuting them for years (Acts 9:19-23) or Matthew who immediately left his service with the Roman Empire that was inflicting bad treatment on his fellow Jews and followed the ministry of Jesus (Matthew 9:9). However, all Christians do not follow that pattern, and the story of John Newton who went through a slow transformation should encourage anyone in a similar situation.

John Newton was a British man born to a Christian mother who gave him a Christian education. After the death of the mom, he was involved later in the slave business as captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. Unfortunately, John Newton had various challenging experiences at a young age including being himself a slave in West Africa. Apart from that experience where he has been rescued from slavery thanks to his father, he also had another one which made him closer to God. During his travel from Africa to England, his ship was caught in a great storm and was about to sink and Newton has been saved this time thanks to the prayers he sent to God.

Anyone would expect the bad experience of Newton as a slave and his rescue by God to make him demonstrate sympathy toward slaves and stop the slave business. That was not his case. He became interested in the things of God including the reading of the Bible, the abandonment of profanity, gambling and drinking but he was still involved in the slave business. But later in his life, the heart of Newton was transformed at the point where he became so compassionate to the slaves that he became a major abolitionist of slavery. After he had become a minister of God, he repented of those years he worked in the slave trade and became Britain's most forceful voice to oppose the slave trade which forced politicians to end slavery. Apart from his impact as an abolitionist, John Newton is the author of Amazing Grace, which is the most sung, most loved and most recorded song in the history of Christianity. Jehovah is also the God of slow transformation.