There are many people whose lives are in need of an extreme make over and people in the world collectively have spent millions to change themselves. However, if we change everything externally and not internally, we will still be in the same mess. True transformation, godly transformation, comes from the inside out. In Psalm 139.23-24, the psalmist appealed to God to search him, scrutinize him, look inside him and remove anything that was not of Christ.
Many people look good externally but that is all. John 15:5 states that if we are of Christ, then we bear fruit which indicates whose we really are. When we responded to Christ, we sent our application to heaven for an extreme make over. Transformation is a change in form, nature or character. We are trading and giving up something for something different. Where we were filled with hate, we are trading it in for love; where we were haters of the things of God, we are now lovers of the things of God. When our lives are transformed, it is difficult for our lives to be moved by the temporary highs that the world offers. Living for Christ, being in the Beloved, serving the King, all becomes more valuable than the things of this world. As children of God, we cannot identify with the things of the world any longer.
Romans 12:1-2 states “I beseech you therefore brethren. . .that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. . .and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. . .” Here Paul is imploring the body of Christ to turn away from the world and renew their minds. This is a process that is achieved by God’s power. The transformation will take place because of the time we spend with Jesus. The more time we spend with Jesus, the greater the transformation. In order to remain detached from the world, we must deal with what goes on in our minds. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says that we have the mind of Christ.
Whatever we do or say all goes through our minds, so we must deal with the mind. The mind is our way of thinking, understanding and reasoning. Romans 8:1-8 states that “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but to the Spirit.” It tells us that those who live according to the flesh set their minds on fleshly things, where as those who set their minds on things of the Spirit, think and act according to the Spirit. To be spiritually minded is life and peace, but the carnal mind opposes God and tells us to do things in opposition to God’s law. Romans 8:8 states that those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
We must pursue holiness; we cannot sit back and wait to be holy. God will redeem us from the moment that we respond to His call, but we must daily renew our minds. If we allow sinful things to enter our mind and entertain them, then we serve sin and live in the empty realm where death reigns, but if we renew our minds and serve righteousness, then there is freedom and abundant life. 1 Peter 2:24 tells us that by Christ’s stripes, we are healed. This verse is inserted here because sin is a sickness in itself.
Christianity is a relationship that influences our daily decisions. It is not a set of rules. Yet, we deal with Jesus in such a casual manner. The closer we find ourselves to Jesus, the more holy our hunger will become. The Bible talks of many people whose lives were transformed. Saul was one such person. He was a devout Jew who ravaged the Church of Jesus Christ in his attempt to destroy Christ. We are told that he persecuted the Church beyond measure in Galatians 1:13. However, one day God touched him. Many of us were like Saul, consumed by sin, but God got a hold of our lives.
Acts 9 tells us of Saul’s Damascus experience. He began sharing Christ because his life was transformed. There will always be people who will view us from our past, however, who we were does not determine who we are now; and who we are now, is not who will be in the end, because transformation is a continuous process. When God changes us, He always does a magnificent job. People will always be people and they will judge us, but our lives will become a testimony validating the power of God in our lives. Saul’s change of name expressed the new nature of God in his life. When we come to Christ, He changes our name. We are no longer who we used to be; we are someone new and become a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God still changes lives today.
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