My amazing friend, David, is a 62 year old drug addict who spent 25 years in prison before arriving in the front row of my Tuesday night Bible study for recovering addicts and felons.
My initial evaluation of David caused me to pity his condition and appearance. I seriously doubted his ability to comprehend or respond to what I was saying. His obvious withdrawal symptoms complicated his ability to verbally communicate coherent thoughts or conversations.
Sadly, I felt the drug abuse, hallucinations, paranoia, and confusion he exhibited left him no longer reachable. But every Tuesday night he sat politely in the front row directly in front of my pulpit as I shared the Gospel.
Then one evening he startled all of us by raising his hand to ask a question!
“What did the criminal on the cross do to cause Jesus to bring him to heaven with Him?”
Not only was it a good question but it came from the least likely source of the 40 men in attendance. Every week more questions came pouring out to everyone’s shock and delight.
David requested a large print Bible from me and within three weeks completed reading the whole New Testament. Seeing David come to Christ, love the Word of God, and be transformed spiritually, physically, and mentally had a tremendous impact on the rest of us.
As David’s mind keeps on being “made new” by the spiritual impact of God’s Word, faith in Christ, and Christian fellowship his mind and lifestyle are truly being transformed!
The Greek word for transformed is seen in the English word “metamorphosis” or a total change from inside out. The world or our culture tries to exert pressure from the outside to control your mind and behavior and get you to conform. But the Holy Spirit changes and renews your mind by releasing power from within. That is transformation (spiritual)!
A great missionary friend and mentor in the Philippines always challenged me to be a transformer, not a conformer.
He used the illustration of a thermometer vs a thermostat. A thermometer adjusts to the temperature outside of it and conforms. But a thermostat controls the temperature and transforms the room. “Be a thermostat, Tomas!”, he challenged.
“So, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day… as we look not to the things that are seen.
but to the things that are unseen.”II Corinthians 4:16, 18
I once spoke at a pastors conference in the northern Philippines. A Catholic priest heard me speak and asked me where the source of my spiritual insight came from. I gave the priest my Living Bible and a candle with my notes. Because there wasn’t any electricity I had to stop speaking at dark and we settled onto our mats under our mosquito nets. I woke up every so often to see the priest reading my Bible until his candle was no more.
His life was changed forever by God’s Word. That is transformation!
“But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 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.”
II Corinthians 3:16, 18
Being transformed,
Tom and Karen
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