Personal Transformation
The quest for new life has swept the whole globe, both inside and outside the Church. People across the world are seen overtly craving for a new life as they find their present lives deficient, meaningless and unfulfilling. As a result, the word 'transformation' has become the 'in' word with a worldwide circulation used in almost every arena of life.
By Rev. Khoo Boo Wah, MTh
Proponents of transformation, be they from economic, social, political, or spiritual field, or behavioral science, label the word on their products, agendas, strategies, policies, programmes and projects respectively, advocating 'transformation' as the solution to human dilemma.
They give the impression that their respective measures will take their customers from right where they are to where they should be. Much propaganda, or something of this nature, is publicised to lure people into thinking that personal transformation is attainable through human efforts alone, within the reach of everyone who passionately pursues it.
Christian perspectives on personal transformation
The above global quest challenges us all the more to study the subject, to have a clear understanding, to live out and work out the transformation that salvation brings, so that we can share its essence when we are asked.
Personal transformation is a matter of great concern which we cannot ignore. It is the spring of all the other transformations – family, church, society, economics, politics, nation and the world.
If individual believers do not experience it and are unable to demonstrate the new life in Christ, how can the Church fulfill her role as the agent of change? George Barna says: "The Church is paralysed by the absence of transformed leadership (Christian lives)."1 (Italics mine). What then is the Christian understanding of personal transformation?
Central to the Christian belief in personal transformation is that it is a movement in which all three persons in the Godhead are at work on our behalf. This is in stark contrast to the marketplace's notions of personal transformation.
The Christian version has a strong divine emphasis. It is distinct from the rest in that it is essentially God's own idea. He is the source and fountainhead of human personal transformation. It is His loving and perfect will that the life of man should be transformed, no matter how defaced the image in man has become. God has not finished with us yet. He sees not what we have been but what we can become. He has designed for man an entirely new sort of life and the way it will take place. He has the power to change our lives.
Something is very wrong with human nature; no amount of human effort can change it but God can transform it. Sinful, inadequate man can be transformed.
However, this new manhood is not given automatically. To become the man God intended, we need to come to Him in His terms. We must be willing to accept His way. This is nonnegotiable. It is not a debatable option. It is imperative that we adhere to it, for God is the Lord of all with His rights over all. He has made available in Christ Jesus a personal transformation that is of a totally different category, the only one of its kind.
Therefore, personal transformation must be at the top of our agenda and our paramount conviction. Any other approach to it means that we run the risk of alienating ourselves from the good purposes of God. Not believing this would reveal a lack of faith, and if indeed our faith is lacking, well, no wonder we are not experiencing anything.
God did not come into the world and dropped a set of plans on us. His amazing master plan did not come to us cheaply. It cost God dearly. His only begotten Son died for our sin and for the world’s. Because of the work of His Son, personal transformation is now possible.
Paul says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17). Evil found no foothold in the life of Jesus. In His utter self-giving on the cross, sin was defeated. By union with that one victorious life, we experience inner transformation – Jesus as the life changer. In our moral and spiritual struggle with sin, we do not stand helpless and struggle on our own.
In Christ, our lives will be reversed from abnormalities to normality, from alienation from God to orientation towards Him, from dysfunctional to functional, from deformity to recreation, and from brokenness to wholeness. Such work of transformation goes beyond the conversion experience although it begins with it.
Personal transformation means actualising our new distinctive identity as God's people
Personal transformation is, as spelt out in the Bible, being made into what God intends us to be, i.e. Christ's likeness (2 Cor 3:18), leading eventually to the formation of Christ's image in us (Gal. 4:19). If the transformation is genuine, this Christlikeness advances, progresses and grows to its fullness. It does not stay the same as when it first begins.
We grow daily, more and more Christlike. We grow to become Christ's persons, or God's people, the God-given new distinctive identity. We move from bearing the name to actualizing it in our daily lives. A speaker once said, "God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus."
God does not want us to live in mediocrity and beneath the standard He has set for mankind. This involves change: to be different from the world of self-interest, self-sufficiency and self-assertion.
When John the Baptist saw the crowds going after Jesus, he says, "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30). Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal 2:20).
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| "We do not exist for our own sake, nor do we exist for the sake of the holy, catholic and apostolic church. We exist for the sake of others and for the sake of God’s glory." |
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This means self-concern should no longer be seen as our focus but God-concern which becomes the mark of what we say and do, to be noticed by others more and more. We do not exist for our own sake, nor do we exist for the sake of the holy, catholic and apostolic church. We exist for the sake of others and for the sake of God's glory.
Christianity is Christ. In Him, we see Him ushering in a new age, a new creation, a new way of life, a new order, and a new kingdom, i.e. the Kingdom of God. In Him we see what humanity is designed to be. In His life and in His death we see love, service and faith to which we are called, and for which we were created.
Above all, in His resurrection we see the final destiny which God holds out to those who come to Him in faith. Jesus is the example by which we live, and the vision towards which we move. We practise to become the people of God, not just good citizens.
We practise to make our new identity a reality with the aid of the Holy Spirit, not merely bearing the label. If there is to be any change in the Church, in the nation and in the world, it must come through transformed men and women who bear the name of Jesus.
Our whole lives changed
A radical transformation marks our whole being. We have not simply subscribed to a new set of religious ideas and rules, or adopted a few religious jargons and clichés and behaviour; we have been transformed; we have become a different kind of person. Responding to the initiative of God and life altering experience are inseparable. It leads from one to another. The post conversion life will be markedly different from the pre-conversion life. Our effectiveness at helping others will depend on how efficiently God's principles are working in us.
Whereas we once shared the sense of purposelessness that is prevalent in this world, we now know that we are part of God's great plan. There is a purpose to life and it is centred in God. Whereas we were once in a state of hopelessness, we are now filled with a living hope in Christ. At such a time when chaos, pessimism and despair seem to prevail, we need to be both hope-filled and hope-dispensing believers. Whereas we used to let opportunities slip by, we now make the best use of them to develop our spiritual life and to further God's work of transformation in the world.
Effort is required in developing the relationship of our union with God. Our great fault may lie in the confusion of our priorities. We forget our essential dependence on Him; we neglect prayer, worship and His Word. We are more concerned with the results of that union rather than the union itself. We are more concerned with doing rather than being. If we are to preach Christ we must be like Christ in all aspects of our life. Only our continuing union with Christ will ensure that.
We need to develop our mind. We who believe in the Lord Jesus have His mind (Phil 2:5; 1 Cor 2:16).
Personal transformation is for the blessing of others
We know that the work of the triune God is to make us Christlike. But it is not to be seen as an end in itself. It is only the means. We are to be so changed that we might attract others around us to have and enjoy the transforming experience available in Christ. Christian faith is not something private and concerned only with individuals. Our Lord Jesus, whilst on earth, is the man for others, the man for the world. So should all of us be. That "Help Wanted" chapter is still open. The cry of humanity for personal transformation continues. God has made believers His agents because there is no way for men to be transformed other than through Christ. The Bible also makes it clear that God's blessing goes with His call to personal transformation - this is not for believers only. We are to be a blessing to others: a man for others just as our Lord is.
Conclusion
Jesus says, "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." But there is obviously a credibility gap among us all. We have heard these remarks many times: "Jesus is wonderful, but you Christians - you are not like Him!" "You proclaim 'the gospel is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes,' but it is hardly evident among you!"
Personal transformation is primarily to be a model of how God works when He is allowed to come into our life. When our lives are not transformed it gives the impression that God's own idea has not worked. Obviously, our response is to be contrite before God, rise up to consecrate ourselves to Christ afresh, live our lives acceptable to Him, and in all things let Him have the preeminence.
We will then see the transformation that salvation brings. It begins with personal life, followed by family life, life in the marketplace, and society as a whole. We pray and hope that the whole moral, psychological and spiritual atmosphere will be turned around. Personal transformation is possible but cannot be self-manufactured. It is what we allow God to remake us in His terms. Ω
(This is an extract. The full article will be available in in the upcoming NECF Forum VI, published by the NECF Malaysia Research Commission.)
Endnotes
1 George Barna, The Second Coming of the Church (Nashville: Word Books, 1998), p. 101.
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