Be transformed…
Romans 12:1-2 – “I urge you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your Spiritual act of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Do you remember that movie that came out a few years ago that was based on a comic book and action figures from the 80’s, Transformers. Well, I’m old enough to remember the Transformers, in fact I had a few. They were cool robots that you could with a few movements turn into different stuff. Some would become boats, some of them cars or planes, etc. But no matter what shape they were in you could look at them and see characteristics of what they could be.
I think we’re a lot like the Transformers; when God looks at us He sees what we could/should be. He sees the outline or characteristics of His Son. And with a few adjustments He knows that we can be transformed into the image He wants.
Philippians 2:5 gives us an example of the image that God has in mind for us. It says that we should have the same attitude, focus or opinion that Jesus had. The King James Version of the Bible says that we should have the “same mind” that Christ had; I really don’t think it can get much clearer about what God wants. He wants us to be the perfect likeness of His Son, so that when people see us they see Him through us, and when people hear us they hear Him speaking.
However, He knows that if we are too close to the patterns of this world our transformation will be unsuccessful. So, He warns us not to conform to this world because when we are conformed then we hinder the work that He is doing, and our transformation will be flawed so that we do not match the perfection of His Son, Jesus, but rather we conform to the imperfect images of this world, and we stay the robots instead of the perfect creatures we can become.
Another cool thing about the transformers was that the person who controlled them could turn them into whatever they wanted. The toy had no control over when it changed, and very little about what it became. The same goes with us; we already have the perfect image of Jesus Christ imprinted on our hearts when we are born, and as we grow we get imprinted with the images of this world.
If we allow the world and its imperfect images to control us then we are going to continue the cycle of disappointments, unhappiness, and depression that runs this world.
But, if we want to break the cycle of imperfection that rules this world then we must only come to the Cross, and fix our eyes on Jesus. Now, I’m not saying that when we look to Jesus that we will never be disappointed again because people will always disappoint us; neither am I saying that we will never disappoint others because that too will happen, but over time God will transform us into the image of His Son, and we will be Perfect just as He is.
The transformation that we must go through to become more like Him requires a lot of change on our part. Change in our hearts, what care about. Change in our minds, how we think, and change in our attitudes, or outlook, point of view, etc. As human beings we are naturally resistant to change, and in religious circles the opposition to change is even worse. Jesus understood our opposition to change, but He also knew the need that we had for change. In His parable of the new wineskin which is found in Matthew 19:17, He warned people against putting “new wine” (His Covenant) into an “old wineskin” (rigid religious traditions) or they both would be destroyed. We must allow Him to change us (our thought process) and then we will become transformed into His image otherwise we are of no use to anyone!
The only way for us to truly change, and to be transformed into the image of Jesus is to repent and turn from our old ways. Repenting is the idea of turning our back on something and turning towards something else. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” We see from the words of Jesus that is impossible to stay as you are while you are serving God. Many people try to hold on to their old ways, but serve and worship God that cannot be done because our ways are very different from His ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9)God is Spirit, and when we worship we must worship with our whole spirit. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.” When we do not repent, turn from our old ways, and get hooked in to His transforming power then we cannot truly serve and worship Him. Until we receive His transformation in our spirit we cannot truly worship or serve Him because we will be holding on to our past that is fighting against His desire to make us perfect, but when we surrender to Him then we will have the power to follow Him wherever He leads, and the peace knowing that He will protect us no matter what hardships we go through as we are changed into the perfection of Jesus.
For people change is inevitable, and the resistance of Godly change is in direct violation of God’s teaching. Remember the story of Josiah, Israel’s boy king, found in 2 Kings 22-23. During the restoration of the temple some lost scrolls were found (probably portions of Deuteronomy.) After hearing the scrolls Josiah realized that the country of Israel was in rebellion against God. He had a choice to make Josiah could either ignore what he heard and continue with the status quo, or he could change(transform) the practices of Israel to be in line with what he heard in the scrolls.
It’s a lot like the decision we’re faced with when we see the Savior, Jesus, as He truly is we can either continue living in the sin of rebellion or we can be transformed by His illuminating love!
Unlike, the movie robots or the toys that I had, it is up to us who we let control us; and what we change into. So, the final question is this, Are you going to be a worldly robot and conform to the image that other people want, or are you going to be transformed into the Perfect image of Jesus Christ?
__________________________________________
Father God, I thank You for coming into my life and making me a new person. In Jesus’ name, Amen
__________________________________________
Yes, You Can Ministry 