Transformed is the word our women’s advisory team chose for our women at Cornerstone Fellowship this season. Our spiritual theme is “Woman Transformed”, and everything we plan wraps itself around that single theme. So, naturally, I have been processing that word…transformed…hmm…me transformed? you transformed? our famlies and marriages transformed?
Transformed:
- To alter markedly the appearance or form
- To change the function, form or condition of
- To convert
The Thesaurus says the like word is: To revolutionize
OK. I admit it, I am a “word nerd”. I love words. I like the dictionary and thesarus, and not just for spelling, but for the simple enjoyment of how things can be said a variety of ways, thus touching us at a variety of levels and points of interest.
Naturally I looked up revolutionize, and found that it means to have a sudden or radical change in the state of affairs, or to overthrow a government. It is linked with the idea of rebelling against something in order to make a change for good.
What would it look like if we became rebels with a cause? Rebelling against the governing hang-ups of fear, insecurity, jealousies, selfish hearts and narcissistic tendencies. What if we rebelled against living in our flesh and self, wanting instead the change needed to live in the freedom of the Holy Spirits presence, power and peace?
Sounds heady, so I just like to revert my thoughts back to a toy line that my sons played with when they were little boys …Transformers. They went from a monster to a car, right before your eyes…thus changing function and appearance. I often wondered if that is what it was like to be transformed by God. Could I be changed from the selfish Debbie into a completely new woman in form and function? You know the answer to that…no need for a drumroll here…just a celebration of truth.
Celebrating Truth: Romans 12:2 The Amplified Bible
“Do not be conformed to this world ( this age) fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs, but be transformed ( changed) by the entire renewal of your mind ( by it’s new ideals and new attitudes) so that you may prove for yourselves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
And, then the following verses in Romans 12 go on to begin to talk about this revolution, this change of government from self to surrendered, from selfish to sacrificing self interest, from envious to celebrant, from evil to loving.
The last verse reads ” do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good. v. 21
So this is the revolution…to live for Christ and not for me, and to be changed by having every facet of my mind washed by His Word, and adapted to the Truth of God’s Word. It’s aligning myself with the God who made me and has plans to change me. He wants to Transform us, it is His desire.
Revolutionized? You? Me?
Yes!
But, there is something that is worth mentioning….to revolutionize us often means to peel us out of our mold, while pressing us into His mold or form for us. This peeling causes pain. And, let’s face it, no one likes pain.
We run from pain, sprinting as fast as we can to a place where we can pretend that no pain exists and nothing is ever wrong. Pain avoidance causes future pain. That said, a step towards this revolution is to stop where we are, cast our pain upon God ( 1 Peter 5:7) Giving it over to him, piece by piece. Once the pieces are thrown into the air of surrender, and placed upon the throne of grace…His Word of Truth can fill the emptiness, the longing for more, the desire for a better life. His Word teaches us the path of transformation, and the steps to being beautiful from the inside out. His Word changes us from within in a way that none of us can fully understand.
Hebrews 4:12 The Amplified Bible
“For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power, making it active, operative, energizing, and effective; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life ( soul) and the immortal spirit, and of joints and marrow ( of deepest parts of our nature) exposing and sifting and analyzing purposes of the heart.”
Yes, transformation takes surrender of self, and then sitting with the Word of God, that it may speak to us and do internal work that we can not do in and of ourselves. This spiritual surgery is what transformation is all about. And, cutting is painful…the Word of God cuts and divides the flesh from the spirit in our thoughts and attitudes. Sometimes this cutting is a crushing.
I live in the wine country of Northern, California. There are vineyards very close to my house, and grapevines on logos all through town. Wine is a business, a pleasure for many, and a hobby for those with exquisite tastes for the variances in the different types of wine. But, the wine, as celebrated as it is, did not get this way without crushing and squeezing. What once is a fruit on a vine, becomes a drink in a glass. Transformed? Radically changed in function and form? Yes!
In a spiritual sense, if we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed, you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed. Thus, the explanation for pain while being transformed. The outcome is a poured out life.
Will you join me in praying Romans 12:2 ? It might go something like this,
Lord,
I desire to be in your perfect and acceptable will for my life. This requires that I no longer be conformed to this world and it’s customs, that are based on all superficial living and selfish attitudes. Rather, your plan for me is to be transformed and radically changed by my mind being changed by the truth of you Word. Change me Jesus, draw me to your word with a desire for more. Start a revolution in my heart and don’t let me run from it. Fashion me anew. Clothe me in Truth. Amen
Living Up ( Under the Promise of His love)
Debbie
Interesting topic! Hope you will elaborate more on it in future posts