This article is the first in a series describing how God changes us from spiritual infants into fully mature spiritual adults who are able to successfully pursue and accomplish God’s purposes. Friend, the call to spiritual maturity is imperative. It is the call to have the mind of Christ and to be holy – even as our heavenly Father is holy. I urge you to take it seriously – as does the apostle Paul:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 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.” Romans 12:1-2
The call to transformation is so important to Paul that he uses a story from the life of Moses to describe it. Whenever Moses met with God, his face would be radiant. The light was so bright they had to put a veil over his face. In time, the light would begin to diminish, but every time Moses met with God, his face would become radiant again. Paul encourages us to engage in the transformational process – so that our faces will shine brighter and brighter!
“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 Spirit.” II Corinthians 3:18
Friend, God loves you just the way you are—and He loves you too much to let you stay that way. God has holy purposes for your life. Reaching the full potential of those divine purposes requires transformation. It is how we become the light of the world.
When God’s grace saved us, we still thought and acted like the world. In fact, it surprised us how much we still struggled with the world. But make no mistake, when God saved us, everything changed. We were born again as a new creation, the start of a new story, and like babies, we were helpless and immature. Paul describes this infant condition in I Corinthians 3: 1-4,
“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?”
No one would kick their baby out of the family because they are helpless and undeveloped. As parents, we provide everything the baby needs to help them grow and mature. By His transforming grace, God does the same for us. All He asks is that we take it in.
Here’s the rub: we want to change ourselves. It’s that human pride thing. We want to do it ourselves so we can take pride in our achievements. Instead of yielding to His grace, we fight and scratch to change. It doesn’t work. We must change His way because we don’t have the power to change ourselves. This comes only through His transforming grace.
Do you see a pattern here? We can’t save ourselves. Salvation comes only through the grace of God. We can’t transform ourselves, either. Transformation into spiritual maturity comes only through the grace of God. Our job is not to produce change in ourselves; rather, it is to allow God’s grace to transform us.
Metamorphoo
The word transformed Paul used in Romans 12:1-2 is translated from the Greek metamorphoo. The prefix meta means with, and in this usage, means change after being with. The root word morphoo means to change form in keeping with inner reality. When we think about metamorphosis, we generally picture a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. Inside that caterpillar is everything necessary to become a magnificent flying machine. Metamorphosis brings that inner reality to the surface.
In Christ, your heavenly status has changed. God has declared you to be holy and has fully adopted you into His family—a coheir with Christ. See Romans 8:17. God’s saving grace has completed its work in you – it is your inner reality. Now it is time for your inner reality to come to the surface. You must live holy. For that to happen, you must be transformed, metamorphoo, by the renewing of your mind.
Discipline
God is calling on us to yield to His transformational grace. This is done through discipline. When we discipline ourselves to partake in grace, it changes us.
Suffering
Discipline requires suffering as we force ourselves to choose what is best over what is easy. So yes, transformation is tough. It is why Paul described it as being “a living sacrifice .”It is why he said, “I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave.” See I Corinthians 9:27. It is why Jesus called us to walk the narrow road and to take up our cross and lose our lives as we follow Him. See Matthew 7:13 and 16:24-26.
Amazing Grace
Grace is always painful before it is amazing. It confronts our pride and arrogance. It exposes our laziness and self-centeredness. It lays bare the awful thoughts and bitterness we hold in our hearts. The old saying is true, “No pain. No gain.”
But after the pain, grace transforms us. Transformation doesn’t come easy. Conviction is always painful. Discipline requires suffering. Be thankful! God is treating you as His child! Read Hebrews 12:1-13.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
