Illuminated

After you were illuminated..

Hebrews 10:32

Buddhists talk about enlightenment. The word here is illuminated, though some translations do actually use the word enlightened, and I'm told that is very close to the original Greek.  

Converting to Christianity is a meeting with Christ Himself, and thus to be illuminated or enlightened with His own light, for God is light, and Christ is the Light of the World. However, Christians are not made perfect immediately, and so we still struggle with our own inner darkness in one form or another such as pride, anger, sloth or lust until our dying day. But often when a man does convert, the difference, the illumination, is immediately apparent. You would have to ask those around me in 1981, when I converted, whether that was the case. My own feeling is that it may have been less obvious than when some drug addict immediately gives up crack for Christ, but the fact that my liberal nominally Christian dad was willing to shell out for an top of the range Bible for my birthday shortly afterwards maybe means any changes he noticed in me made a positive impression. Or maybe He just loved me. Christianity is really all about truly understanding those words: Our Father in Heaven. 

By the way, I still have the Good News Special Edition Bible my dad bought me, over 40 years later, very tatty though it is. It is still one of the best books I own, & I own a lot of books. I read the other Bibles I own more often these days, but they aren't necessarily better, just less tatty.  Jesus Himself warned that 'moths & rust destroy' riches here on earth. (Matt 6:19)