If your life looks the same today as it did a year ago, you may have fallen asleep at the wheel. A living, dynamic relationship with Christ always moves you forward. If you are connected to the Christ power nothing remains static in your life. Walking with Christ in your life means that your life is continually being transformed. It is impossible to remain the same. Old habits, worn-out ways of thinking, self-destructive behaviors, and worries and anxieties melt away when consistently exposed to the light of the spiritual Son.There is an increasing interest in transformation. Have you noticed? It exists on all levels from the plethora of makeover shows on TV to seminars and books on transformational leadership and spirituality. Within the church there is a bifurcation, a splitting taking place between those who are content with the status quo and are “defenders of the truth” and those who are tired of religion that is about form and not about being transformed.
People are waking up to the need to have more power in their religious lives. There is an awakening to spirituality. Whether church members or not, the call of the Spirit is touching the lives of those seeking to have a closer walk with God. Many of us are no longer content to coast along year after year struggling with the same issues but are ready to surrender our old life for a new life and a new way of being in Christ.
This idea is not a new one, but a very old one. The Apostle Paul, one of the earliest recorded writers in the New Testament talked repeatedly about being a “new creature”, “putting on new clothes”, and “taking off the old”. He was talking about having a transformational relationship with God. He argues eloquently and repeatedly that to walk with Christ is to live a transformed life.
The Apostle John talks about the transformation that takes place in the human heart by having the Spirit live within and reminds us that the Spirit gives us love for God and love for one another. Over and over he summarizes the need for our transformed lives to be evidenced in our treatment and loving concern for each other.
The Apostle Peter reminds us to make every effort to respond to God’s promises of transformation and that if we do our lives will grow and that our growth will be evidenced in how we live and how we act towards others.
Somehow in the history of Christianity we have forgotten that our walk with God is not about holding a certain set of beliefs—our beliefs don’t save us. God made ample provision for all who desire to be reconciled back to God. Christ is the bridge connecting heaven to earth. This is Jacob’s ladder. All who journey towards God travel this bridge whether or not they are even aware that it is Christ that they travel on.
God desires that our journey back to God actually change our lives and restore in us our true calling and identity. God didn’t create an exclusive system so that you had to be born in a certain time and place in order to know God. Anyone who seeks God will find God. As Jesus promised, “Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened.”
When we place our emphasis on relationship rather than beliefs we will have a spiritual walk that empowers us. It is only in relationship that we are transformed. We must be connected to God’s Spirit because it is only by the power of the Spirit that our hearts and desires are changed. It is only when we are connected to the Source of Love that we are able to truly love.
When we focus on our personal relationship with God, all need for debating doctrine and theology disappear. There are too many other important issues facing Christianity than to debate beliefs. The life of Jesus gives us an example of how we might spend our time. His ministry was about service to others, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, and healing the brokenhearted. This list gives us pause for thought. Does your ministry require any of these gifts? Perhaps we might need a little transformation after all in order to serve in the same way that Christ served.
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Julie