3 Misconceptions about Transformation

I posted this on a spiritual formation blog a while back. In the next few days, we'll talk about something I believe highly relevant and highly troubling to most people. Authentic life change. How in God's name does it happen? Well, we must first realize that apart from God's name, and apart from his grace and power, it ain't never gonna happen. We desperately need His Spirit at work in us if any authentic change is to take place within the core of our being.

But, I've found that even those who do love God and desire His life to permeate our own lives. . . change is still difficult. We are creatures of habit and have settled into ways of being in the world and patterns of thinking that keep us stagnant.

Paul's names this stuff "the flesh". At whatever else the flesh does, it kills us. Our flesh wars with God's Spirit who wants to breed and reproduce new life, transformation in us.

The good news is that transformation is possible and more than a pipe-dream. But, there are a few misconceptions that I have noticed that keep people from experiencing all that God wants for their lives. And, over the next few days I'd like to address three specific misconceptions that people have about transformation in the way of Jesus.


Misconception #1 “The right knowledge and information will transform my life and make me more like Christ”.

While Bible knowledge is pertinent to us actually knowing who God is and understanding who we are, knowledge alone cannot transform. We have often confused knowing more about Jesus with becoming like Jesus. When I was working with college students, each year we’d tackle a ropes course. Now, before beginning the course each student would receive adequate knowledge about how to traverse the course and assured that course was safe and equipped with certified technicians and working equipment to ensure safety and success. Despite all of this solid information from experienced and trustworthy guides, and despite having being dunned in all the right climbing equipment. . . all this assuring information flew out the window as the students, paralyzed in fear, left the safety of hugging a tree on a sturdy platform and took that first step onto a two inch wire tight-rope swaying 50 feet in the air. You see, the knowledge and information informed their heads, could not transform their terrified hearts. The cerebral part of the self was whispering “this is safe, you'll be fine”, while the terrified heart screamed “Get me off of this thing! This is insane!”

Information has the power to inform, but is powerless to transform. The only way to achieve success on a ropes course is through the experience of actually traversing the course. In many ways experience itself is the primary teacher. You'll not learn a think about a ropes course unless you take that first step.

In the same way, there’s always an experiential element to God’s shaping us into His image. He calls us not only to know, but to trust, to risk, to routinely act upon that which we know in our heads to be true. One area that we are continually building into our lives here at Hayward Wesleyan is the experiential element. As teachers we’re no longer only asking, “what do I want people to know”? But also, we’re asking “how can we provide experiences that help people apply what they have just learned to everyday life experiences? How can we encourage people to take that risky first step?" Rick Warren probably summed it up most vividly. He says, “Information without application is abortion.”

As the life-giving seeds of God's Word is sown into our hearts and minds, we are responsibilt to God to cultivate these seeds of knowledge by putting them into practice in our everyday life. Failure to do so results in an aborted mission. Of course, life-change in Christ sounds real good as we "theorize" about it on Sunday mornings. But, when Monday arrives and we're back dangling 40 feet over our heads in fear and anxiety, it's a different story. The powerful words of Jesus that we gave mental assent to yesterday, seem far more dangerous and risky to listen to when we are being asked to step out in faith and apply them today.

Perhaps it's at these junctures in life where Jesus lovingly smiles and whispers "O ye of little faith." You see, if we do believe in Christ and we intend to become like Him, we must go where he bids us to go. And, like being on the starting platform of an insanely scary ropes course, there are really only two directions to head in. We either back down and retreat to where we once were (and most of us know that there's no future in that), or we step out in our knowledge of Him and take that first step He's calling us to take today.

Instead of making a life out of hovering on platforms and hugging trees for one another day, week, month, year or decade. . .may we remind ourselves that the only knowledge leads to transformation is knowledge that is applied in real-time and real-life. So, just do it. Quit thinking it's going to get easier or less fearful to take that first step. It never will. We must embrace the elements of fear and risk as part of the Jesus journey.

May we each, in some quiet unexpected moment, step into fear and out in faith and take that first step. And, at that moment, may we discover the joy of being one step closer to becoming our truest selves. . . .one step closer to becoming what God has intended us to become.