The Promise of Transformation
Change. Sometimes change consists of simple joys, the gift of life’s best blessings. Change is clothed in a white dress and the peal of wedding bells when you trade your maiden name for your married one with the slip of that smooth ring on your finger and a kiss promising fidelity for a lifetime. Change is ushered in with excited anticipation when your family expands along with your ever-growing stomach harboring a new member to welcome into your home.
Sometimes change can feel like death, when the proverbial carpet has been ripped out from under us, and our hearts, minds, and emotions are left gutted and whirling. Other times, change feels like the slow crumbling of time in cloudy seasons that come with loss and grief: the scary unknown waiting for the medical diagnosis; the major life decision ending in disappointment; loss clothed in a black dress and settling in our hearts until forever can be realized on the other side of heaven.
Maybe this is why most seasons of change become lodged in our memories. Joy and grief, pain and potential, glorious sunshine laced with laughter and heavy clouds laden with tears get all wrapped up and intermingled throughout the changing seasons of our lives.
Change is inevitable. Change is often messy.
I’m so glad that when the Bible speaks of change, it holds out the promise of transformation, renewal, and new life.
The final pages of the book of Revelation contain the promise of our eternal King seated on his throne:
”I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Rev. 21:5 NIV)
God, whose character is perfect, trustworthy and true, speaks the final word in the midst of our changing seasons. God’s promise of change is always filled hope. Change, held in tension by our perfect Creator, includes promises worth holding onto, even when we don’t have the strength to stand. Through every changing season, we can lay all of our hopes and questions before the throne of the One who is forever trustworthy and true.
Change grounded in gospel hope isn’t just for the final transformation at the end of time. It is for today as well. The unseen work of the Spirit as we bend ourselves to the lordship of Jesus in our lives allows us to embrace the Bible’s call to put off our old self and put on our new self. Transformation (real and lasting change) exists outside of our circumstances, not because of them.
Transformation happens because I am God’s chosen child, his holy and beloved one, being filled by his Spirit with compassion, kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, and love (see Col. 3:10-14).
When I hold up this transformation list next to my daily life of work, laundry, meals (and let’s be honest—this is all before 9 a.m.), this list of the evidence of the Spirit inside me feels impossible. And it should. Transformation—true, lasting change—doesn’t start in my heart and mind and overflow into my actions because I’m some kind of superwoman.
Change grounded in gospel hope is because of Christ. Christ in us. So whether sunshine or clouds flit across the skies of our stories, if we hold onto God’s promise of hope, those around us will look at the way we experience change and see his goodness and glory. Even on the hard days—especially on the hard days—gospel change points to Christ. Real and lasting change comes from Jesus, and when Jesus reigns as King in our lives, we are constantly being changed by him.
Change is our opportunity, as women who embrace the promise of his Word and the transformation (change) of the Spirit within our hearts, to remember Whose world this really is and where our hope for the future is found.
is a simple pastor’s wife who is married to her best friend and called mama by her four favorite little people. When she’s not drinking coffee or hiking with her family, she’s trying new dishes in the kitchen or blogging about creating space for Jesus conversations in your heart and home. You can find her over at RoomforWonderful.com.
Photograph © Alaric Duan, used with permission
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