The Changing Life

The Changing Life

(an excerpt from Whispers: Transforming Words for Your Ever Changing Life)

Whether you are a Christian or not, you have probably heard that Jesus wants to change your life—and indeed, he does. In fact, he can and he will, if you want him to. But know this: once he changes it, he will keep on changing it. It is not a one-time thing. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. (Colossians 3:10 NLT) Becoming a Christ-follower is just the beginning of God’s work in our lives. He is continually making us new. He is continually urging us to let go of the selfish things in our lives that are not from him and leading us to embrace his goodness and grace as our own. The changing life is about transformation; it is the metamorphosis of your soul in God’s hands. It is a series of transitions, some harder than others. But, do not fear. God will provide for you whatever you need—courage, grace, endurance … He will guide and empower you through every transition. Old stuff will die, yes, but you didn’t need those things. The new stuff that God brings to your life will meet every need you have. The changes that God will make in your life are real—good, perfect, virtuous, and meaningful beyond your imagination. Metamorphosis is hard. It is messy. There’s the before and the after. The former and the current. The certain past and the uncertain future. The wanted change and the unwanted change. And there is the sometimes dreaded between. Trusting God is of paramount importance. In fact, it won’t happen without him. But do note: it won’t happen without you. Don’t get stuck in self-rationalization and justification saying, “I can’t change” and “I am who I am.” This kind of thinking puts up a wall against who you can become in Christ. The question to ask yourself is not, Am I able to change? but, Am I willing to change? Transformation, by experience, can be observed in the butterfly. As a caterpillar, the “to be” butterfly faces an obstacle in its metamorphosis: its skin cannot grow with it. So, at each significant transition, it has to grow another larger skin. Meaning, while it is living with one skin, it is always growing another underneath. When the new skin is ready, the caterpillar sheds the old skin. This process called “molting” happens five times. And in the last phase, the wings are actually forming underneath the skin before they are exposed. Now, I don’t know about you, but the whole thing sounds painful. And the whole idea that you have to go through it more than once, over and over again? I’m exhausted thinking about it! And if I were a soon-to-be butterfly, I think I might lose hope in the process. Yet, I can’t imagine the world without butterflies. They are amazing! And they are insects! So, imagine you—a human being—created by God in his image, with a life that is growing and changing and becoming more and more like him … Transformation is a wonder of life you don’t want to miss! To be the best of who you were created to be, to live out your purpose and significance, to live and thrive in the light of God forever and ever, and to be more like Jesus, full of love and grace. You don’t want to miss this. I plead with you, let God’s story be written in your life. The making of your soul, the shape and substance of who you become matters because you matter. God created you in his image with a unique design. Plus, he placed within you common threads that you share with other members of humankind. He made us meaningful and beautiful. He gave us both passion and purpose. He filled you with love and grace and peace so that you could experience them for yourself, as well as share them with the world. He gifted you with life itself. And inside this gift of life, our souls both soar and struggle. We are both strong and fragile. We have strengths and weaknesses. Words and events both build us up and drain us. Our souls can be harmed by choices and actions, and healed by the same. All of this is part of our beautiful, constantly changing life in him. It might be said that we are cocreators of our lives with God. God does his part and we do ours. Yes, God is sovereign, but that does not mean we can abdicate responsibility for our own lives. We are not robots, puppets, or projects. We are living, breathing, creations of God, and each of us has a unique identity and place in this world. We have our own will, and God will not violate that. So, it is our decision about how we are going to grow and give, learn and live. And we are either going to cooperate with him or not. It is our choice. I believe our souls thrive when we operate in communion with our Creator, the one who made us. He knows us best. More than that, he loves us most. We can trust him. Opening up to him and inviting him to move in our lives might be a struggle at first, but it really is a sweet surrender. Looking for him in people and places, listening for his voice, and committing to a deeper responsiveness to his leading are the keys to our spiritual formation. We cannot change and grow alone; we will become weary quickly if we rely on our own self-effort. We need the power of God. Thus, we need the cross. It is our symbol of wholeness and hope. It tells our story of when we walked away from the soul-maker and brokenness was birthed; and it stands for the truth of our redemption and restoration, speaking of what is and will be in and through us. We hold on and we hold true to the extravagant love it represents, permeating every aspect of our lives; and we rely on the spiritual power that it pours forth and penetrates the entire universe in which we live. The making of our souls is a journey of faith. We have a destiny. There are days when we have to believe in what we cannot see. There are many times when we ask God, like the kid in the car, “Are we there yet?” The fact is, we are going to need an eternal perspective for this journey; we are going to need to live today like forever has already begun. Because it has.