THURSDAY
Yesterday we looked at some of the alternatives to the gospel message of transformation. As we talked about a couple weeks ago in salvation, both of them keep the attention on ourselves and we fail to direct our attention to God. The same goes for transformation. We need to get our eyes off of ourselves and first direct them to God.
The New Testament everywhere declares that transformation is first a work of God in us. We are made new—recreated in Christ. Doing good works is simply the result of this new identity that we have in Christ. This is a fulfillment of God’s promise to the prophet Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 36:26–27 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
2 Corinthians 5:17 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 3:18 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.
Ephesians 2:10 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Colossians 3:9–10 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Romans 12:2 2 Do not be conformed (passive) to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Ephesians 1:3–6 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Romans 8:28–30 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Galatians 5:16 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Galatians 5:22–25 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
The place to begin transformation is in our new identity in Christ. We have been made new in him so we should live like it. In this sense our transformation in Christ should feel more like Pat dunking a basketball and less like me working out to get there only to fall back to the baseline with each injury. We should experience the joy of living in our true identity in Christ, the consequence of which will be a transformed life.
For those of us who have tried time and time again to progress in the Christian faith in our own effort, this is indeed good news. This power of transformation makes the gospel truly irresistible.
Reflection
Spend some time praising God. Thank him for his transforming power in your life. Thank him for the new identity he has given you in Christ. Reflect on how you have been made new in Jesus and then spiritual growth becomes not a matter of legalistic law-keeping but a joy of living in our identity in Christ. It’s just who you are.