Changed

Would you like to watch a caterpillar change into a beautiful monarch butterfly? Isn’t it an amazing phenomenon? 

So as believers, how do we change? How do we become more Christ-like? Have you attempted to change yourself? Is it positive thinking? Or is it supernatural? Do you change yourself, or are you being changed?

It is not that we picture ourselves as being different, and that changes us. No, it is seeing Jesus Christ, gazing at Him, that we are changed. We don’t do the changing. He does the changing for us. We are being changed. Do you see the difference?

Who is changing? Us. Who is doing the changing? Jesus, by His Holy Spirit in us. Metamorphosis.

We don’t learn coping skills. We don’t think positive thoughts in hopes that will change us. It is in choosing. He will give us options that are God-focused that clash with our options that are self-focused.

Source of Change

It is His life in us. When we are born again, we receive His eternal life. That isn’t just for when we die. It is for the present. Now. We have His eternal life now. Think about that for a minute. Asupernatural power, an eternal life in your spirit right now. What is it there for? Certainly not to take up space. He is there to be your animating source, transforming you into a new person that will be more and more like Jesus Himself.

That is God’s plan for you. Many of us know what Romans 8:28 says, right? What about the very next verse? Do you know what it says? Romans 8:29. 

See, we aren’t born again to simply continue on with our life as we want. We are no longer self-focused, but are God-focused. Born again, we are connected to our Creator and have a close relationship with Him. Everything looks different. We think differently. We respond differently. 

Our part in metamorphosis

The more we look at Him, the more like Him we become. The more we read His words the more we are changed. Transformed. Metamorphosis.

So what is our part? To see. To gaze. To yield to Him. Allow Him to create a new person in us. He will remove the old ways and replace them with new ways, His ways, His characteristics, His abilities powered by the Holy Spirit.

Words to light your path this week

• 2 Corinthians 3:18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. ESV
• Colossians 3:10  and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.  ESV
• Ephesians 4:23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,  ESV
• 2 Corinthians 4:16  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  ESV

Prayer – Father God in Heaven, help us to see that it is Your eternal life in us that is changing us. Making us more like Your Son. It is not our efforts. Our part is to yield to You. To choose always to follow You. Amen.

A New Creation – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Ministry of Beholding His Face – David Wilkerson

Exchanged Life