Changes For Life

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” ‭‭2nd Corinthians‬ ‭3:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

You can scrub a pig, sprinkle him with the fanciest perfume known to man, put a ribbon around his neck and a bow in his hair, and let him in your house. But as soon as you turn him loose, he will run to the first mud puddle he sees and roll around in it to his hearts content. Why does he do this after the countless hours cleaning and making him look pretty? Because he is a pig and that is what pigs do. Just because he is clean on the outside doesn't mean that you changed his nature. 

As a whole, the human race is constantly trying to reform ourselves. Countless dollars and time is spent on "self help" books and seminars. They all claim to hold the secret to a better life and personal reformation. But all these efforts truly are temporary at best. To truly change who you are you have to look much deeper. You have to have a transformation of the heart to see real, lasting change. 

As I have studied the Bible, I have learned that it teaches us that when we come to Christ, we are spiritually born again. God and His Spirit come to live inside of each of us the moment we invite Him in and the changes start right then. We see our motives change, our objectives in life start to become His objectives, the disposition of our spirit changes to someone we might not recognize and it is all because we chose to change our eternal destiny. 

I wish that I could tell you this "transformation" happens all at once but it doesn't. It takes the rest of our lives learning what it means to follow Christ and even then I don't know if we can fathom it all. But it has to start somewhere and that somewhere is the moment we open our heart to something other than ourselves and allow something bigger than us to use us as He sees fit. I once heard it said that "The clothes make the man" and honestly I would have to disagree. I believe it is the heart that makes the man and I for one want a heart that is His and His alone.