You Can Be Transformed
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)
To be transformed means to change in condition, nature or character and to also change in form, appearance or structure. How many times have we looked at something and have thought or said “Wow, I bet that was nice at one time, to bad it’s old and can’t be fixed” or “Man, that person is rotten! They will never change!” Maybe those words have even been said to you or about you. If so, those words were wrong!
When we see an old piece of furniture, some people will take the time to fix it, dress it up with a new piece of material or a coat of paint and transform it into a thing of beauty, display it and/or use it. Sometimes they have to get that piece of furniture or item to work with them, maybe soaking the wood in water to get it to bend more easily or stretch something so it can fit together better. The item has to be able to be worked with or the plan for transformation can’t be achieved. Those who like to restore things are people who look beyond the current appearance of something and are able to see what the item was made to be and work on the item to restore it and transform it to what it was or even better. We’ve all done it. Then there are those who are never able to see past the appearance or surface of something to what it’s really worth and will never truly know the joys and excitement of seeing an item transformed back into something beautiful before their very eyes.
We serve a wonderful God who can see the beauty in everyone and will do everything He can to transform someone considered old, broken, worthless or useless into yet another masterpiece. His first masterpiece was creating that person to begin with and His second masterpiece is renewing and transforming them later on. But in order to be able to do this, we have to be able to be worked with, bent, stretched and reshaped back into place. When we go through life and encounter trials, problems, pain and hurts, if we aren’t taught how to handle them and we don’t follow God’s instructions of what to do when we encounter them, we tend to become hardened and stiffen to the point we are unable to bend and move easily as we once did. We can become cold and even rebellious eventually responding the way the world responds as opposed to how God wants us to respond. For God to be able to transform us, we first have to want to be transformed, changed and renewed. This means we have to be able to be bent, stretched and reshaped. This can be a painful process for a short time or an extremely painful and difficult process for a long time depending on the person and how willing they are to allow God to do what He needs to do in order to transform and renew them. The choice is up to us.
We have to remember our own responsibility in our healing process. It’s not just God doing all the work, but us working together with God to accomplish this transformation. This is where the renewing of the mind comes in. It’s taking the directions that God has given us in the Bible and applying it to our lives and every situation we come across. It means we must be honest with God, ourselves and others about ourselves and our feelings. When something affects us, we must get to the truth of the matter as to why it’s affecting us this way. Many times it boils down to our flesh, the very thing God is trying to help us to overcome and will put before our eyes over and over in different situations until we surrender that pain, anger, hurt, bitterness, jealousy, pride, greed, etc over to Him.
Now, lets get to the truth, the bottom, the heart of why it can be so hard to apply scripture to our situation…because it’s the opposite of what we were taught in the world and allow ourselves to do. It means:
- We might not get to have the last say
- We might not be able to explode on someone and tell them off
- We might not be able to demand our way be done
- We might not be able to give in to our flesh to make ourselves feel better
- We might not be able to treat others the way they treated us (negatively)
- We might have to overlook a wrong or an offense when it isn’t overlooked with us
- We might have to show love when we aren’t shown love
- We might have to forgive when we aren’t forgiven
- We might have to help someone when we aren’t helped
- We might have to pray for someone when they have hurt us and ignored us
These are just a few things to consider but no doubt the major reasons it’s hard to apply scripture to our situations. It boils down to doing opposite of what our minds have been programmed to do. In order to be transformed, it must begin with the renewing of our minds which means we must do exactly as the Word of God says. When we apply the scriptures little by little, eventually we will see a difference. When we surrender the painful words and actions of others to the Lord, He takes it from us and gives us doses of His love to heal us. Throughout the process of the healing, He stretches our hearts to be able to love others even when they hurt us. He makes it possible for us to overlook wrong offenses and forgive those who have offended us. He does this through love as is shown in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…”
When we allow God to transform us and we renew our minds, we will discover true healing. We are our own stumbling blocks by not allowing ourselves to follow God’s instructions to make the changes we know we must make because it goes against our flesh and how we were taught. We feel we will be considered weak and therefore others will take advantage of us. Yet if we truly know God, then we know we will always come out in victory in the end. Meekness is not weakness. It takes more strength to not respond to a negative comment or action than to respond to it. It takes more strength to make the right choice than to make the wrong one. It takes more strength to forgive than not to forgive. It takes more strength to love the unlovable than to not love them. It takes more strength not to fall into temptation than to fall into it.
What we fail to see (and what Satan does not want us to know) is that if Satan is the prince of the air (world)(Ephesians 2:2) and he is the one who tempts our flesh to do the opposite of what God calls us to do (anger, fighting, jealousy, greed, gluttony, addictions, fear, pride, vanity, stealing, etc) then doesn’t that mean when we apply the scriptures to our lives and do the opposite of what the world (Satan) wants us to do and we overcome through Christ, we are in fact the stronger ones and not weaker? The world believes true strength comes in being loud and more verbal, through intimidation and fear, by being more knowledgeable than others, by having more physical strength and acting out, through beauty (vanity) and popularity…which is everything Satan thought and did prior to us and continues with today, tempting us to do the same. True strength comes from being able to apply the scriptures and overcome every problem, issue and situation. True strength is not falling into our fleshly desires. True strength is not always having to prove we are right. True strength is not having to get others to do what we want through intimidation and fear. True strength is not being coaxed into an argument or doing something that we know is wrong. True strength is not allowing anger, jealousy, greed, hurt, addictions, fear, depression, anxiety, PTSD to overcome us and rule our lives. True strength is self-control. True strength comes from Christ by utilizing the Word of God.
One more thing to consider – In Ephesians 6 Paul discusses the Armor of God. In Ephesians 6:17 he notes the Sword of the Spirit…our weapon for spiritual battle…and tells us it’s the Word of God. Now you know why the enemy does not want us to apply the Word of God to our lives or even believe that it can work…because he knows the truth which is in Hebrews 4:12:
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Who wouldn’t want such a weapon? Not only does this weapon bring us to our knees through truth, it heals, restores, nourishes and strengthens our spirit. It also is what we use to take down the lies of the enemy and overcome our flesh and worldly ways. So I ask again…who wouldn’t want such a powerful weapon?
When we renew our minds through the nourishment of the Word of God and by applying it to our lives, we will see an amazing transformation within ourselves which will transform us on the outside as well. We will look different and act different. We will be stronger than we’ve ever been.
True strength does not come from the physical but the spiritual. True strength comes from Christ through the nourishment and application of the Word of God. Start renewing your mind now through the Word of God and watch the chains be broken and the transformation begin!