Tag: Transformation

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Open the Box

Watching one-year-olds open presents promises a humor all of its own: unaware of the gift inside and enthralled with the wrapping paper and ribbon that surround it, it never occurs to the little tykes to open the box! Senses ablaze at the sights, sounds and feel of colorful paper shredded at will, there they sit in first-birthday seventh-heaven. It’s all perfectly predictable, yet we laugh just the same. But what if this pattern never changed as they grew up and knew better? What if those we love never opened life’s boxes to see what lay inside them—crayons, dolls, and games; dresses, basketballs, and jeans; gift cards, car keys, and heirlooms? Think of their joy missed; think of our hopes dashed.

To the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “you … were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.”1 The same can be said of all who believe in Him: We live in Jesus forever. Yet being saved from eternal separation from God is only the beginning of greater things. To the church in Rome, Paul spoke of a gift far beyond our imagination: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”2 Paul is talking about us! As we hold the rich-textured paper and ribbons of salvation, God knows the gift that awaits us deeper inside the box, the gift of His glory—His splendor, His brilliance, everything He shares with us, for we are His heirs, the “many brothers and sisters” of his Son and “co-heirs with Christ.”3

Glory itself is a difficult concept to grasp, as is our transformation into the likeness of the Son who is “the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of his being.”4 Over the coming weeks we will continue to open up the wonderful gift of glory, all the while celebrating the God who delights in giving us His all.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15)

1 Ephesians 1:13
2 Romans 8:29, 30 NLT
3 Romans 8:17
4 Hebrews 1:3

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Winning Freedom

“Happy Memorial Day!” It’s a conflicted greeting, isn’t it? The day arrives each year with such innate ambivalence: We rise to honor valor in conflict, while kneeling to grieve the wars that demanded it; we bow to mourn the ultimate sacrifice of a million souls, even as we celebrate the day under the freedom they gave their life to defend. Yes, there is a distinct tension about Memorial Day, though an important one, for as Solomon observed, “death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart” (Ecclesiastes 7:2). And so we do. Yet for the believer there awaits another destiny—a glorious one—eternal life, the door to which death is reduced to the station of a lowly welcome mat. So, in this week of mourning, let’s use this space to look up from our sadness and fix our eyes on the promise of new life, one more certain than death, indeed one that begins before we die and can never be taken away. Consider:

“Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” {John 14:2, 3)

Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25, 26)

“Do you believe this?” Reverberating through the generations, Jesus’ question reaches us. He has done everything for us—lived without sin to become our perfect sacrifice, incurred the punishment we deserve, burst and chains of death that surely would have fettered us forever. This is what we celebrate. This is why we hope. This is whom we proclaim: He who died—and rose—to win our freedom and give us life.

Yes, Jesus, we believe you are the resurrection and the life. Send your Spirit to lead us in freedom, that God would be glorified through our transformed lives. Amen.

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Up, up, and away!

A couple of years ago, Peggy and I invited some international students to the Marysville Balloon Festival, a fun day of absorbing the sights, listening to tunes, and, of course, consuming junk food. At some point in the afternoon, about a dozen pick-up trucks with trailers pulled up alongside the airstrip. We watched, mesmerized, as the aviators and crew unpacked their hot air balloons—each one spectacular: huge, colorful, not one like another—and spread them out on the ground. Thinking back on it later, they were a picture of humankind separated from Christ1—majestic in design and unique in conception, though empty and spiritually lifeless.2

As the crews began to fill the listless behemoths with hot air, we initially saw no outward change at all, but after a while, the skyward side of the balloons began to billow, and over time their topsides started to rise. Finally, filled with hot air, every balloon stood upright, anchored to the ground, yet reaching for the sky. They were magnificent, yet stationary; beautiful, but going nowhere and doing nothing. This, too, was illustrative, depicting a point along our spiritual journey: “born of the Spirit,”3 yet not moving, birthed but not launched.

Then, at the right time, one by one, these silent aircraft lifted into the atmosphere, and we saw their glory—hot air balloons transformed into what hot air balloons are supposed to be and doing what they were created to do. Carried on currents, they were visible now for miles around, spreading out and bringing joy even to those who did not come to see them. Likewise, it is God’s purpose that all who are in Christ by faith be filled with His Spirit and transformed to the image of His Son, realizing our identity and pursuing His purposes.

The apostle Paul tells us, “We all who … contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”4 Please stop and re-read this verse; He is working in you today. Over the coming months, this will be our focus: God steadily transforming us into the likeness of His Son. May it be so.

Father, thank you for saving us through Christ and for transforming us to His likeness today. Your will be done. In His name, we pray. Amen.

1 Ephesians 2:12
2 Ephesians 2:1
3 John 3:8
4 2 Corinthians 3:18