Take a Stand - Transforming
A co-worker of mine told a story at lunch a few weeks ago about a nature show he had been watching about cave diving (read: beyond insanity). The camera was in the cave with the diver, pointed at an angle where it looked as if the diver was about to come up into an air pocket. When the diver broke through the deep blue water, instead of surfacing, he kept on swimming. He was moving between the salt water and the fresh water. Much like the diver, we are swimming between two worlds. One is the enticing deep blue of the world, and the other is the fresh, Living Water of God.
Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." What does this mean? What are we transforming from? What would we be changing to? What changes when we transform and how long does it take?
We live in a fallen world. A dirty, smelly, rotten to the core world which rarely, if ever, has our best interest in mind. Since the day we were born we have been slaves to our human desires. Paul said in Romans 7:15, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." If a man of God such as Paul said this, what chance do the rest of us stand?
The original Greek for the word transformed, metamorphoō, means to metamorphose into something different. Much like the caterpillar sheds its old legs and ways of walking to transform into a fluttering butterfly, we are called by God to throw off the old skin of fleshly desires and become new creations in Him. However, just like the caterpillar, we do not become butterflies overnight. The process of renewal is gradual and takes time.
Transforming is very similar to what the cave diver experienced. I'm not talking about the inexplicable terror of the world collapsing on you when you're hundreds of feet underwater, though there is some of that. What I'm referring to is moving between two worlds. While undergoing that seemingly interminable process of transformation, we may find ourselves constantly slipping between the two worlds. From the clear water above, it's easy to see the dark blue below. But from the dark blue of the world, it's not so easy to see the Living Water. We have to stay dedicated to swimming in the clear water.
How can we stay dedicated? Our pastor likes to say "the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to help make the child of God more like the Son of God." That's so true. We have to keep in the Bible in our hearts. The next thing that we have to do is pray. That's really where I fall down. I'm currently reading The Power In Prayer by Charles Spurgeon. I'm hoping to get better in this area. Transformation is a process, not always a sudden change. We can't be perfect, just willing.
So where do you fall down? What do you do to stay in the clear water? Do you think cave divers are certifiably insane?