The word, transformed, is an amazing word. Webster states its meaning is to be “changed in composition or structure.” We see this in chemistry when sodium and chloride in the right conditions fundamentally are changed creating salt…totally different than the original state. We see it in nature when a caterpillar experiences metamorphosis and fundamentally is changed into a butterfly. Light from sunshine is absorbed in green leaves (chlorophyll) mixed with carbon dioxide and water and fundamentally is changed to create food for a plant. This process is called photosynthesis.
The Bible says in Roman 12:2 that a Christian is an individual who has been “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The term that Christians in the past used was the word “converted.” We become new, fundamentally changed from a sinner to a saint with the new nature and character of Christ. In John 3, Jesus encountered a scholar and religious leader, Nicodemus. He proclaimed to him in verse 3, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Nicodemus tried to intellectualize the gospel, “4 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’” He attempted to limit God to his ability to understand Him. I believe many of have become like Nicodemus. We try to limit God to our own capacity…you can’t if you want to experience transformation. Romans 1:17 states, “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” If you limit the gospel to your ability to think, you have limited God and will not experience the transformed life. To live this kind of life, you must live a life of faith in the one who died for you and was resurrected up so that you could walk in a newness of life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 states it this way, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” When some passes away, he dies. Then, it says the “new has come.” If you are a true believer in Jesus, you are a new person (transformed)…the old things have “passed away.”
Nature gives testimony of God’s ability to transform a life. Have you experienced or are you experiencing spiritual metamorphosis or photosynthesis? As Romans 12:2 states, “Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed.”
Barnabas Man 