I love the story in Mark 5:1-20. There was a man in a certain town who had so many demons in him that he was terrorizing the town. The townspeople would take him outside the city to the caves and chain him up. But he would just snap the chains off and come back. The day Jesus arrived changed everything for him, though. Jesus cast those demons out of him and later when the crowd gathered, they saw him clothed and in his right mind. This is a picture of true transformation.
Sometimes we must go through the bad to get to the good. Jesus had to go through the cross to get to the glorification. We too had to go through the cross to receive eternal life. We may have to go through loss or difficulties to live in the fullness of God. One thing most Christians want to know is what God’s will is for their life. This verse in Romans tells us that it is possible to know God’s will, but we must go through the hard first. We must let God transform us.
Paul says that a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God (Romans 2:29). I’ll go so far to say that a true Christian is one whose heart has been transformed. It’s the person who willingly jumps up on the Potter’s wheel. It’s the person who says, “Lord, change me. Change my thinking. Change the way that I act, the way I treat people, the way I see people, the way I respond in difficult situations.”
Transformation is often difficult. It goes against everything our flesh wants. It’s willing to say YES to what I need, rather than what I want. It’s willing to admit – in the presence of a holy God – my failures, my faults, my discrepancies. It agrees with God on what’s right. It says, “Lord, I don’t like the way I think. I want to think the way you think. Change my thinking.” Transformation is a bright light for Jesus. And transformation is the ONLY thing that helps us know God’s will for our life and gives us the ability to walk in it. Let these words encourage you today.