Christian Transformation

My great-grandmother is 96.

She picked cotton in the Alabama cotton fields, and then moved to Chattanooga where she worked as a custodian for the rest of her life. We call her "Mama." 

Her name is Annie G. Davis, but we call her, "Mama." All six generations of us. 

I love, Mama. 

Love talking to her. 

Love listening to her.

Love being with her. 

She's always got something funny to say, like when she recently told someone, "Right now, you're a Georgia peach, but soon you'll be an old country watermelon, like me, and the men don't pay for country watermelons like they pay for Georgia peaches - so you need to get a job,and take care of yourself!"

That had me hollering. For days. Literally. 

I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. 

Called my mom. Called my sister. And laughed like crazy - cause Mama is a trip. And well, you know, because that person probably does need to get a job and take care of herself.

But recently, I went home and Mama said something both beautiful and bittersweet. 

"You got feet just like, Joyce."

Joyce is my Mama. My real Mama. And Mama - my great grandmother - knows exactly what her feet look like because it's all she can see now: Mama walks with her head down.  

 At 96, her spine is a weeping willow. It droops and hangs, and Mama walks, it seems, almost perfectly bowed over. So she notices people's feet. And, I, apparently, have feet "like Joyce."

With age. 

With time. 

With many revolutions around the sun. 

With age.

With time.

With many revolutions around the sun: Mama's perspective has changed. 

She's grown. She's matured. She's ripened: She's different now. 

Are we?

As Christians, have we grown over time and matured spiritually?

Has our time in Christ Jesus produced any tangible change in us? Do we make different decisions about life  - what we will and won't say, what we will or won't do, where we will and won't go - based on our intimate understanding and knowledge of God through his holy and divinely inspired word, the Bible?

Do we ask God's permission before we make decisions? Do we ask if He approves or disapproves?

Are we led by the Holy Spirit?

Or, are we still making our own decisions, led by our emotions and worldly wisdom?

Christianity is about transformation. We cannot experience the Most High God - pray and study his word intimately - and remain the same. God, our Father, is Holy. He is righteous. He is pure. He is Just. He is the Creator God, the All-knowing, All powerful, omnipresent God - and His life within us, his Holy Spirit abiding in us - transforms us. If we are truly His and He is truly ours, we are constantly transforming into his likeness. 

And what does God look like? 

According to Galations 5:22-23, God looks like love. 

He looks like joy.

Like peace.

Like patience.

Like kindness.

Like goodness.

Like, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

These are the fruits of the spirit, His Spirit living in us. But are we bearing this fruit. Or are we bearing strange fruit, fruit that looks oddly akin to the fruit of the world? 

Are we consumed with lust - fornication, adulterary, pornography and homosexuality?

Or are we delivered, set free, and testifying to the saving grave, the saving power of Christ Jesus?

Are we gluttonous? Is our stomach our god, our idol?

Or are we self-controlled?

Are we conformed to the ways of this world?

Or are we continually being transformed by the renewing of our minds?

If not, something has to change.

Any church that does not preach the transformative power of Christ to heal, save and deliver is doing a disservice to the Kingdom of God. Miraclulous signs and wonders followed Jesus, and in John14:12, Jesus said "whoever believes in my will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater works than these."

Where are our greater works? 

I recently heard a pastor say, if you tell people God can heal or can deliver, everyone will shout, Amen! But if you say, God will heal and will deliver, the church becomes silent. Why is that? Have we ceased to believe that God really is who He says He is? And He will do what He said He would do? 

We spend too many Sundays playing with God. We give Him about one hour - 15 minutes of song and praise and 45 minutes of preaching - and we're done with Him. 

How about we pray and praise and declare the word of God until His glory falls? Until he reigns and we realize that we are His servants and not the other weigh around? (Disclaimer: I don't want to be in church all day either, but I know I need to be in church all day.)

On a personal level, are we operating in the gifts of the spirit? Are we using them to uplift and glorify God's Kingdom? 

As Christians, we are responsible for daily meditation on God's word. Daily study. Daily prayer. 

It is not the pastor's responsibility to feed us. As we mature in Christ Jesus - as we age, as we grow, as we mature - we have to pick up our own spoons, fix our own plate and both eat and drink freely of the Word of God. It's the only way we will be empowered to live freely and fully for Christ Jesus, our Lord. And, it's the only thing that will draw a dying world to a living, risen Savoir: Our transformation. 

This week, let's meditate on what true transformation in Christ Jesus looks like. What does it really mean to encounter Christ? And how can we demonstrate the change He has made in our lives? 

Because it's impossible to encounter the Most High God and remain the same. 


Know that I love you each, L.