written by: Carissa Waggoner
This summer, I have been taking some time off to work on some much-needed house projects. One of my projects is painting my wrap-around deck. I started out knowing that prep work had to be done first. It is such a large project that I caught myself wanting to take shortcuts or skip some of the tasks. I knew that in the long run, I would later regret doing that. So, I set out to pressure-wash the railings, sand them, fill in gaps with wood filler, and sand them again. I put on two coats of primer, then on to the actual paint, and used caulk in the gaps.
During this process, it has given me much time to think. I thought about how God prepares us. What if He skipped a step? What if we took shortcuts in His preparations for us? The finished product may not be the desired product.
The neat thing to think about is how God prepared a purpose long before we came to be.
I found that even though I kept putting a stain-hiding primer on the rails, the stains kept showing through. As I was dealing with this, I couldn’t help but wonder if there are still stains showing through in me. Maybe pieces I haven’t surrendered, unforgiveness leaching out of my heart. I could see God in this whole process. The washing away of dirt, the sanding away of splinters, the filling of the Holy Spirit, the priming and protection, and the painting to shine of His Glory. Transforming me all along the way.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Once we become saved, we don’t just sit around praising Him while He just sits on His throne. He is active in our lives and in the details. He is working for our good and His glory, even though we don’t see it. Yes, we praise Him not only in song and words but in response to His love and sacrifice for us.
Over time, we can look back and see the progress and changes God has made in us. It is quite a beautiful love story of a person whom God picks up, dusts off, and progressively changes into who God had always designed them to be.
The transformation God brings about in a person’s heart, mind, and soul is miraculous in itself. Much like healing the blind man to see again or the lame man to walk.
He transforms us from what we were into what we were always meant to be. Because He loves each and every one of us, even while we were at our worst. In a hopeless pit of misery.
We see transformation TV shows and in games all around us. The middle-aged mom who has spent her life caring for her children and has let her appearance go, gets a transformation. The house that has been neglected now gets transformed. In games, a single mother living in a shelter, but now her lifestyle has been transformed.
We, as a society, are enthralled by outward transformations. The transformation that God gives us is a deep inner transformation. He does it gently and lovingly. Sometimes, we have come to be content in our state. We think that more change is impossible, but God’s word says in Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Ezekiel 32:36
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
1 Samuel 16:7
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Peter 3:3-4
3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
God is a healing God. He can take those past hurts that we have allowed to define us and heal them. He can take years of bitterness and wash it away. He can take our hearts of unforgiveness and replace them with compassion and forgiveness. He can take our cynicism and replace it with hope. He heals places in us that we didn’t even know were hurt. Who better to heal us than the one who created us and knows us more intimately than we know ourselves?
God transforms us through life lessons and by the renewing of our minds as we read His word and spend time with Him in prayer. In community with other brothers and sisters in Christ, we can encourage one another as we undergo the transformative work of the Holy Spirit within us. We are all broken, we all have a past or a story, and we all need a daily relationship with God in a world full of wickedness. We surrender those pieces of ourselves we are holding onto. We put our trust in Him, for He is faithful.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The world’s transformation and God’s transformation are opposites. The world’s way of transformation says that, in order to be progressive, we must turn our backs on all that God’s Word says. It says we are to worship self and to accept sin as not sin but rather individualism. It says we can do whatever we want, whatever the cost to others. It says we can celebrate without consequences, and we can push the limits of rebellion and put to death convictions. It tells us to hate all that is true, right, and just.
At times, I think I can actually see groups of people literally handed right over to their sin and into a reprobate mind.
Romans 1:22-25, 28
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
As children of God, we are thankful that God loves us so much that He would not leave us where He found us. God’s transformation is pure and light. His Word is a lamp unto our feet. Our relationship with Him grows deeper. We worship our wonderful creator, and we know who we are in Him. We stand firm and do what is right and good, no matter the cost to ourselves. We celebrate Him, not us. We know full well of God’s undeniable power, and we revere Him, knowing that He knows best because He sees and knows everything, and we put our trust in Him. We are aware of the convictions from the Holy Spirit that bring life to our souls. We love all that is true, pure, and just.
It is a praiseworthy scene to watch the darkness in someone be lifted out and replaced with light. A deep joy to see someone who was once dead in transgressions be born again, and then to watch them as they begin to transform in the likeness of Christ
2 Corinthians 3:18
18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
I know that I can make changes in my own life, habits to start or stop. I can be more intentional about how I treat others, but real change requires transformation of the heart, and the only One with the power to do that is our Lord and Savior.
Behavioral changes are good, but heart transformations, through the renewing of the mind guided by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, are lasting, not passing.
What about you?
In what ways can you look back and see God’s transformative work in you life?
Are there pieces that you still need to surrender to allow God to transform?
May we all seek to be transformed by Christ Jesus, deeply rooted in our daily lives.
Philippians 1:4-6
4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Prayer:
God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you for loving us so much that you did not leave us where you found us. We thank you for the preparation you do in our lives to live up to the calling you have prepared for us to do. We thank you that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by you. We seek never to be content with where we are, but to be continuously transformed by your Holy Spirit. We take this time to surrender to you any pieces we hold onto. We step in faith, knowing that you will heal any parts of us that need healing. We ask for the strength to forgive those we hold back forgiveness from. We pray that you create in us a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit within us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!
Becoming His 
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