Pentecost 37 The Real Transformer

[HKHaugan]

Pentecost 37 The Real Transformer

Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).”

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well (1Jn.5:1).

For the mind, the heart and the spirit there is a definitive framework in which we can adjust their sinful excesses;---the mind, the heart and the Spirit of Christ Jesus. All human experience can be evaluated, modified and transformed through Him and His Word. This is how the transformation from sin to righteousness takes place. This is what we mean when we talk about the transformation of the sinful heart to a righteous heart, from self-centeredness to trusting Christ in each dimension. It is having that sense we are finally on the right track. It is this conscious relationship between Christ and His people that is a heart to heart experience, a process of restoration and recovery. In a way salvation and transformation are lock step events.

The keyword here is transformation. Transformation is a spiritual process. The moment we accept Jesus as the One we trust to show us what life is all about we are saved. But being saved goes farther than taking a deep breath and thinking everything is going to be hunky dory from that time on. We are saved in order to go on being saved. Salvation is an ongoing experience. It is growing from one insight to the next. It is making one’s self open and vulnerable to the Spirit of God as the controlling force in our lives. That is a day-by-day, circumstance-by-circumstance process. This is what transformation is all about. It is a spiritual revamping of our whole approach to life based on Jesus, His Word and how He accomplishes that by the Holy Spirit.

What God grants in His grace is knowing salvation is about being transformed. It is the actual change that takes place in the way we relate to God, to others and to the circumstances the world throws in our path day by day. It is no longer trying to be good but rather gripped with the desire to please God in the moment of every decision we are called on to make.

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Cor.3:18).” Stay tuned…….