TRANSFORMERS

(Ephesians 4:22-24) that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

In the last couple of weeks, I have had several great conversations that all led to the same place; a discussion of the way God can and does change the way we think. The Bible has a lot to say about our thoughts, and our patterns of thinking. We are told that the way a person thinks in his heart so is he. The phrase “thinks in his heart” clearly refers to more than just the thoughts that we think; it refers to habitual ways of processing thoughts coupled with an overall context in which we think. This context through which we filter all the input that comes into our lives is called a worldview.

Jesus directly linked our thoughts and our actions by clarifying for us the correlation between sinful thoughts and sinful actions. He said that thinking about adultery is committing adultery. And of course, the Bible tells us that our lives are transformed to reflect greater and greater degrees of Godliness by the renovation of our minds.

What continually amazes me though is the degree to which a genuine encounter with the presence of God not only affects what I think about, but the way I think. That, my friends, is a real miracle. I can, to a degree, change the things I think about by sheer will power. But only God can change the way I think. Only He can transform the very way I process information and the way I see life. Only revelation from God can change my perspective of things to the degree that I relate to them on a brand new level.

The other day we were out at the lake getting ready to put the sailboat in the water. We had the 27’ mast raised on a boat that sits about 6’ off the ground on a trailer, and we were driving up to the Zebra Mussel Inspection point. To get the boat inspected you drive through the inspection area and then follow the road around a little building to go back down toward the lake. Just beyond the building is a set of powerlines. It looked from where we were sitting in the car as though the mast would not make it under the wires. But from 50’ away, outside the car, it was clear that the lines were much higher than they looked. The point is that in order to see the truth of the matter, our perspective needed to change. When we interact with God, and draw nearer to Him, we begin to see elements of life from a totally new perspective–His perspective. This new perspective transforms our thinking and therefore our actions.

This process of transformation of, not only the things we think, but the way we think, that leads to new behavior has a name–it is called repentance. While we usually think of repentance in terms of sin, and certainly that is a legitimate use of the word. However, repentance describes a process where the way we think is transformed to reflect the way God thinks. That transformation leads to new, Godly, behavior.

I’ll close with one more example. When I was young, before I came to Christ, I thought that if you “loved” a girl, it was fine to have a sexual relationship with her. I could see where one-night stands were probably immoral, but if you “loved” someone, why not sleep together? All the commandments and morality lessons in the world couldn’t shake that belief. Even after I became a Christian, and mentally assented to the fact that the Bible said sex was reserved for marriage, I could obey the commandment, but I didn’t understand it, I couldn’t live it from my own heart-conviction.

Then one day it hit me. I had completely misunderstood what the word love meant. I thought love was an emotion that I felt, any sense of endearment and passion for this other person. When I realized that loving someone means that you are willing to lay down your life for the other person’s highest good, it all became clear. If indeed sex outside of marriage is sin, which I accepted that it was since the Scripture says so, and if sin hinders a person’s relationship with God and produces death in their lives, which the Bible says it does, how could I be loving someone and drawing them into sin? No way, not possible. Once my perspective of love changed, then my behavior toward those that I loved changed.

This particular revelation influenced many areas of my life. How could I continue to go to the bars, or drink socially if I might be causing my brothers and sisters to stumble? The Bible didn’t say I couldn’t drink, but if drinking meant so much to me that I was willing to do it at the risk of hurting other people, maybe I needed to think about how much of a hold alcohol really had on me.

What about criticism, anger, cynical thinking? How could I have negative conversations about people, expect the worst from life, hold grudges and still pray with a clean heart – wouldn’t work. Love said pray, so I had to give up the negativity. I could go on and on. One revelation of God’s character will change the way you think, and many of your actions will change in turn. So, the key to Godliness is repentance, and the key to repentance is seeking God’s face. As we see Him as He really is, we are transformed. Be a transformer – seek His face.