But You Were Transformed

There should be a difference. The life we had before we knew Christ must be different from the life we now live as we follow Christ. If there is no difference, then surely there is something wrong.

I remember the time when I was still in my teenage years and uncaring about Christ or serving in the church. I had no interest in going to church and did so only because my parents wanted me to. I found reading the Bible boring and I could not understand a huge portion of what I read. I was unfriendly, antisocial, grumpy, and too sensitive. I was almost always wallowing in self-pity.

When I reached the point in my life when my heart and spirit were convicted to believe in Christ and accept Him as my Lord and Savior, I realized that my parents must have been praying hard for me. I also realized that the church too must have faithfully kept me in their prayers. As I grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, His grace, His love, and His ways, I grew a love for reading the Bible and praying to God. Amazingly, I started understanding the Word of God. I improved in the social area, although it was not a big leap of change, but I became more joyful, more positive in life, and started to be more open to others. What a change! Glory be to Jesus Christ who changes lives.

So I believe that the Word of God is true. When we meet Jesus, we will never be the same again. We are transformed to a better person according to His righteousness. However, when we are not able to see a sharp contrast between our old life and the new life, that is alarming.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.”

– 2 Corinthians 5:17 (WEB)

If there is no difference between our old and new life, then we were not washed, sanctified, or justified by Christ. Speaking to the Christians in Corinth, the Apostle Paul said,

“Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.”

– 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (WEB)

Such was our life before knowing Christ. We were ripe in sin even without us fully knowing it or admitting it. We only realized how sinful we are the moment God opens our spiritual eyes and understanding dawns on us that make us feel and see what a wretched person we are without Christ. But our new life with Christ is one that is washed from sin by His atoning blood. We were sanctified and justified. That old nature should be continuously peeling away as we are sanctified by God. We must continuously transform to become more like Christ through obedience to God.

Let us not stop seeking Christ and be weighed down by the troubles around us. Let us keep obeying God and allow Him to work His will in us. Let us not get discouraged by the weaknesses we see in ourselves, instead, let us rely on the Lord to mold us and change us to be persons that glorify His name.

If there is still that lingering sin in our lives, may our heart’s cry be “But I am transformed by Christ!” and seek to obey Him and turn away from sin.

“But you did not learn Christ that way;
if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus:
that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members one of another.
‘Be angry, and don’t sin.’ Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath,
neither give place to the devil.
Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.
Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.”

– Ephesians 4:20-32 (WEB)