A Life Being Changed
Greater Portland, one big topic that I have noticed in Paul’s letters to the churches and to new Christians is transformation. And who better to preach about transformation than Paul? He was one of the biggest persecutors of Christians, and at the end of his life he was himself persecuted for preaching the good news about Christ.
On this journey of my own life I have attempted to make sense of this life and to find meaning in it. And I believe that a lot of people share that same goal in life whether they are constantly thinking about it or not. Like Christ and many Christians before me, I laugh, cry, love, work, play, and exist with everyone else in this world. But what I have now is an awareness that my faith and the Bible has given me. An awareness that God is real, that this world is broken, and that through Christ He is transforming people from the inside out.
I believe there is evil out there in the world, but I also think the world is filled with people who are searching for meaning, truth, hope, and purpose. And I believe that longing begins to be fulfilled when we come to know Christ and allow Him to transform us from our inner selves outward.
To be honest, sometimes I’d like this “transformation” to hurry up. That I would wake one morning, and wham-o, I’m a completely changed person (and the world is a new place).
I guess some of these terms like “born again,” a “new life,” and so on can be misinterpreted. But it’s good to remember that terms like “born” and having a “new life” in the context of scripture are often used as a way to explain spiritual transformation. Like Nicodemus struggled with, we are already born physically and living physically. So what does this mean then? Well, the key is transformation. And it’s hard to understand sometimes because this transformation does not happen overnight like a physical birth. It is something God works in us over time through faith, experience, obedience, and learning to follow Christ.
One of the toughest things to learn about living a Christian life is that Jesus and the Scriptures do not teach us to conform to the world and be shaped by it. They call us to be transformed. Just like Paul was transformed. And if I’m honest with myself, I would sometimes rather conform to the world, even as crazy and as little sense as it sometimes makes to me. But I know this world is broken and aching for the hope, truth, and love that Jesus taught and died for.
So my encouragement to whoever reads this is to seek Christ and the transforming work He wants to do in your life. Because when you do, you will begin to be changed in a magnificent way. It won’t happen overnight. At least for me it hasn’t. It’s taken time. But life has much more meaning to me now, and I feel I have a greater purpose. It’s a bit hard to describe. It’s like there is a deeper meaning to life now, both in the small things and the big things.
Like Paul, this is my prayer for you:
“…that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
— Philippians 1:9–11
I would just like to thank the Lord for His love and grace and also thank GPBC for being such a great church family. A lot of what I have been learning through these Bible studies has encouraged and challenged me in my own life, and I’m grateful to be able to share a little of that journey with all of you.