Evidence of Transformation

Are you transforming? Take the quiz.

My new friend and I met at the park. We were drawn to each other by our doggies and we struck up a conversation about life, faith and grief.  Listening to her share her grief story and how she lost her son, I shared my grief story of losing my mom. Our conversation was easy and my heart ached for my new friend. We said our goodbyes in the hopes of seeing each other again.

I left her several invitations on her doorstep to visit our church, not knowing if she attended a church or not. After several invitations, she finally came and I wasn’t there! My pastor met her and put us in touch and I was able to hear more of her grief story and her healing process.

One particular day, I received an email from my new friend. She wrote telling me that her grief was overwhelming and insurmountable. I responded back encouraging her to draw on the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of her if she was a believer in Jesus. If she wasn’t, I encouraged her to pray and ask Jesus into her heart by confessing with her mouth and believing in her heart that Jesus died for her and that God raised Jesus from the dead. Her belief and confession in Christ would signify that she is now saved for eternity with Jesus and that she has the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of her to comfort her in the overwhelming grief. (Romans 10:9)

I ended the email by asking her if she wanted me to come over and to my surprise she said yes, so off I went to encourage her in becoming a follower of Jesus. We spent some time talking and she wasn’t ready to ask Jesus in to her heart that day. Checking in with her the next day, she told me she had prayed to receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior! That made my heart so happy!!

Now what? She didn’t have a church home and going to church was hard and she wasn’t ready to do a Bible study. And, we had just met and were in the beginning stages of becoming friends and sharing our grief together. 

After inviting her to come to church, and she did a couple of times, I was wondering how I could help her see how important it is to grow in your relationship with Jesus.  Growing her relationship with Jesus has to be something that she wants to do and is willing to do and those were out of my control. What I realized was that evidence of my transformation displayed in my life as a believer in Jesus, would be one way for her to see how Jesus has transformed my life and would be part of her journey to heart change.

So where does our process of transformation begin?

As I look at the fall leaves transforming from green to brown because of less light, I see them go from being alive to being dead. They will never come back to life once they have turned brown and die.

But what I realized is as a believer in Jesus, our transformation process begins with the dead leaf. We were dead, “but God made us alive together with Christ…by grace we have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5) Such good news! By believing in Jesus, we will have life! We will go from being dead spiritually to being alive.  That is the where our transformation begins.

Before believing in Christ, my friend and I were the dead leaf spiritually! Scripture teaches us that we are to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29) and this is why we need Jesus in our hearts. We must take this to heart and do our part as we learn and grow in the grace of Jesus.

• We need the light of Jesus to transform our hearts. 
• We recognize that we are transforming spiritually and that it is an ongoing process.  
• We recognize that our transformation process is seen by others.

So what is evidence of the transformation process?

My friend will see the evidence of this process in me as I grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus (2 Peter 3:18). This means that through our relationship with each other, she will see me doing the work to grow and become more like Christ. She will see me go through all the colors of the seasons! She will see me make changes in my life as I desire to be obedient to God’s purpose and plan for my life and for heart change. She will experience the ugly selfish side of me that has to be rooted out and she will see me fail forward.  She will see me working it out exercising my faith muscle. She will see my process of transforming to the image of Christ.

I love that our heart transformation is a process because I am rebellious and stubborn in need of grace and constant redirection back to Christ. Learning to trust God is hard especially in times when we struggle with fear, or control (when I think I have a better plan than God does), or when I don’t want to do what God has asked me to do or in the pain and suffering of everyday life.

But, it is in those times that God is causing me to grow up in Him. Changing me from the inside out to reflect the light of Christ in me as I trust His process for my heart transformation.  

How will I know my heart is transforming?

Take the Transformation Quiz to see how you are doing in these areas?

You are grasping how pursued and loved you are by God.

You are spending time reading the Bible.

You are learning how to talk to God through prayer.

You are growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.

You are learning to forgive as Christ has forgiven you.

You are making your spiritual health a priority.

You are letting trials transform you and seeing them as opportunities rather than obstacles.

You are dying to self.

You are loving and serving others.

You are experiencing the peace of God which surpasses understanding.

You are experiencing and expressing gratitude regularly.

You are trusting God’s will for your life and that His better is better.

You are being transformed by the renewing of your mind.

You are sharing your faith and hope in Christ with others.

How did you do on the quiz?

Taking inventory of your spiritual health is crucial to your ongoing spiritual transformation as you seek to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

And…

Evidence of a life being transformed points people to Jesus.