Transformers - more than meets the eye

God wants to transform your life. Did you know that? As I have let the Father step by step take over my life there are some areas that are very easy to let him step into and cover with his grace and his strength. There are other areas which I struggle with in a cyclical fashion. There is a Chris Rice song “Clumsy” that my heart identifies with every time I hear it.

I’m coming to grips with the reality of sanctification and regeneration as processes not as completed acts. I look at the ideals laid down in scripture and at time feel so unworthy and then I am reminded that God’s grace covers my weaknesses and I am strong because of Him not by myself – AND THAT’S OK! I am in the process of becoming the person I was created to be – I am not there yet nor will I achieve it on this earth. All I can achieve is to continue in the process and to revel in grace.

For many years Romans 12:1&2 have been verses I have tried to live my life around. Phil. 2:12&13 parallels it and the concept is this: by presenting my self as that living sacrifice daily (working out my salvation with fear and trembling) I am continually being transformed into what I was created to be (God works in me to will and to act according to his good purpose).

Transformation is real and it is possible but it is also rarely instantaneous. The scars of our own sins and the sins of others go away slowly (if ever in some folks). To be transparent, many of my scars come in a way from being raised in the church. I never felt I could be quite good enough to earn people’s love and respect let alone God’s and so I learned how to appear holy and yet lived terrified on the inside that people would find out that I was not this perfect person I tried to project. This irony is that as I began releasing the expectations of others many of the hidden sins began falling away. I was being held in captivity by my own self imposed isolation. The voids that the sin had once filled were replaced with relationships.

I think that while we are exploring the past and some of the issues that have brought us to where we are we must work even more actively on building the spiritual disciplines into our lives that will transform us. Our church worked through “The Purpose Driven Life” last year. I was not hit with new truths or lightning bolts form heaven but my life was refreshed and reinvigorated because I was reminded of the basics. I had learned Warren’s "purposes" years ago from a Navigators illustration called “The Wheel”. It depicts a life in spiritual balance. I think we underestimate the simple truth of things like the wheel, how having all of these things in balance creates the spiritual environment in our lives where we can grow and be transformed. Perhaps this is the real truth of Romans 12 and Philippians 2 – if our focus is on Christ it creates a spiritual openness to the transforming power of God in our lives.

May you let God’s transforming power run wild today!

Dan