Transformers

Roman 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

My son used to - and probably still does - enjoy playing with some toys called ‘transformers.’ They were intricately-designed bits of plastic that started off as one thing in appearance, and became something else entirely once you manipulated the joints of the plastic parts and twisted them and bent them into a new configuration. They might have started out as a man and ended up as a jet fighter or some such thing.

I always enjoyed studying the things to see the imagination of the designer that could create them. How could you visualize what it would take to turn a plastic man into a jet, and then to create it in such a way that even a child could figure out how to do it?

Since I understand something about mechanical design and the process of molding plastic parts, I am somewhat in awe of the process which created the ‘transformers.’

God is more awesome. His promise is that you will be transformed – by His hands. But you have to allow it. You must submit to it – and this is exactly what Paul is describing here in Romans 12:1-2. You must make your body a living sacrifice placed in God’s hands for His reformation. The word employed by the Holy Spirit for ‘transformed’ is the Greek word ‘metamorhoo,’ which is the same Greek word employed when Jesus was transfigured (metamorphoo) before the eyes of Peter and James and John in Matt 17.

The idea being expressed is the same sort of amazing thing that happens when a caterpillar first constructs and then enters a cocoon. We have no idea what goes on inside the cocoon, but we do know that in a month or two something wonderful has happened and a butterfly emerges. The caterpillar has been transformed (metamorphasized,) into a butterfly!

Once the transformation has taken place, do you think the butterfly would desire to go back to being a caterpillar? Now, we have the opportunity not only to enjoy the blessings of the promise of eternal life, but to enjoy the full richness of life on this earth, being transformed by God to the fullness of the purpose He has created us for. And - our ‘transformed’ life is an early indicator of who we will be in heaven.

- Pastor Bill