Conformed or Transformed

Metamorphosis: a striking change in appearance or character or circumstances

Does a caterpillar have to strive to become a butterfly? No, it simply becomes one because it was born to be.

Have we experienced new birth? Have we been born of the Spirit? Then we should not have to strive to become like Christ.

The Christian life is not merely a changed life, but an exchanged life. When we received Christ into our hearts, we exchanged this sinful, corruptible nature for His sinless, perfect nature. We exchanged our carnal mind, for one that is spiritual. Or have we?

Romans 12:2 reads "and be not conformed (acting like) to this world, but be transformed (Greek word metamorphoo) (changed in nature) by the renewing of your mind that you may prove (test and find to be true) what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Have we been transformed to the image of Christ--metamorphosized? Or are we merely conforming (acting like)? When we are merely conformed to Christ, we lack power. The Bible speaks of those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. Do we merely have a form of godliness?

To be transformed is to be changed--from the inside out. When you are merely conformed--only your outsides change. It's like being a wannabe--dressing the part and acting the part--but you're just a wannabe. We cannot transform ourselves through works of the flesh--by our own will power and righteous deeds. That is called being conformed. Transformation comes from being born of the Spirit. It comes from exchanging our old thought systems for the mind of Christ. "and be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."

Renewing means to make new and restore. You see when God created Adam, he was given the mind of Christ. He thought like God did, for He was made in His image and likeness. But after the fall, his mind was polluted and became carnal. He exchanged life for death. He traded innocence for sin. There was no way to reverse this except by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The wages (payment) of sin was death. Payment had to be made. The blood of animals could only roll back the debt, they could not pay it in full. For it was man that had sinned and man had to pay. So Christ lay down His life for us. He became our sacrifice and paid in full the price of sin.

Now, when we receive Christ and are born of the Spirit, God begins the process of restoring us back to our state of perfection. All we have to do is yield and submit to the process. We have to exchange our old ways of thinking--those faulty thought patterns for the mind of Christ. We have to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Once we take our thoughts captive, we cast down our imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself above God's knowledge. We must take everything we think we know and throw it out the window. We should no nothing but Christ and Him crucified. When we have an intimate knowledge of Christ, we begin to think like He thinks. Then we begin to speak like He speaks. Then we begin to walk like He walks. We begin to move like He moves. Did you know that genetics will cause a person to behave like their parents. My husband didn't know his father until he was 21, yet he still had the same behavior and attributes as his father. It was in his genetics--his blood. Even so, when we receive Christ, we receive a new bloodline. We are exchanging a heritage of death for a heritage of life. The life is in the blood.

So have we been transformed? Have we allowed transformation to take place? Or are we merely conforming--trying to act like Christ? When you begin the journey of transformation, you don't have to act anymore--you simply become.