Circumstances change us. God transforms us.
I’m change-averse. Give me routines, patterns, and rituals and I’m a happy girl. Change is uncomfortable and forces shifts, sometimes physical, often mental or emotional, altering my heartbeats. Cause doesn’t matter. Amid its disruptive effects, I’m certain resulting impacts will be undesirable and damaging. Discomfort is palpable as upheaval mutates familiar surroundings and events, bringing turmoil to routine lovers.
Change might force physical movement and thrust us into unfamiliar places. When it falls on me like sudden thunderstorms, I flee or isolate. Others like me stall, agonize, and can rebel against lost harmony.
Whether you love change or not, certain truths exist for anyone seeking spiritual change. External change changes us. God’s change transforms us. The world’s change creates chaos. God’s change brings peace. External change creates reaction. God’s internal transformation creates new actions.
God starts with our hearts. The psalmist says God does not despise a broken and humbled heart. When hearts break, God wants our pieces. Heart fractures enable us to reach God on bended knees so He can begin His defining work. Transformation heals hearts, rescues souls, and creates new life.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
-Ezekiel 36:26 CSB
Once God stirs new hearts, we desire His help to further identify sin, change habits, and mold us into new creations. We begin acting as His servants, seeing with His eyes, and hearing with His ears. God’s change, His internal transformation, soon presents as external actions, not human reactions.
We still exist in the uncomfortable. And yet, we long for change as we long to become more like Jesus. We understand reactions to changes are choices. So too are desires for transformations.
“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
-Romans 12:2 CSB
God’s transformation renews, enabling us to find strength, rise, and soar. His presence comforts and protects as storms rage. His power lifts us to emerge, more pliable to be molded in the likeness of Christ. We learn to flex knees and speak the language of love.
Scars remain and are washed clean. Memories linger to provide testimony.
Sometimes, I enjoy rewatching familiar shows. The ones I know every scene and can quote lines. These shows provide comforting background sounds to the day. Noise of familiar dialogue creates a sense of safety.
God wants us to find safety in silence. When we still and listen for His voice. When we give Him our struggles and open Bibles. In the silence, we stop fighting and let Him fight for us.
Transformation provides rest for new work to become more like Christ. As we put on his clothing, he establishes our steps for the Kingdom of Heaven. We morph, longing to serve.
You and I might still fear and feel uncomfortable, but God’s presence propels us forward, instead of taking us back. So, we move, seeking new people and paths to share His word. We embrace strangers and seek the ones who struggle.
External change lasts a short while. Transformation equips God’s people for eternity.
God steadies us during the journey. He covers now tender hearts with His armor. Change becomes the situations, circumstances, and events we endure. We understand change is both expected and unexpected. It, too, accompanies us through the years.
