How Do People Really Change, Really?

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR Matthew 17:1–3 NIV After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. CONSIDER Okay, friends, this is a deep thinker. Let's go Gospelling now.  I always thought of the transfiguration as a one and done; a one-off kind of happening only meant for the Son of God alone. In other words, I didn’t see any personal application—until I looked deeper. The Greek word from which we translate the English word, transfiguration, is μεταμορφόω. It is pronounced meh-tah-mor-FOH-oh. It means something like, “to change form in keeping with inner reality.” In other words, it means to really change, really. This is not cosmetic change. It is deep change.  Meh-tah-mor-FOH-oh. You are already making the connection to the English word, “metamorphosis.” It means change of another order of magnitude—like caterpillar to butterfly change; like water to wine magnitude; like five loaves and two fish feeds thousands magnitude; and I could go on. Then I realized the transfiguration was not a one and done, one-off, Jesus-only occasion. He was showing us his intentions for our lives. The great father of the church Athanasius put it this way: “Jesus became like us so we could become like Him.” So how do people really change, really? He took on our form in order to transform us into his nature. And herein lies the meaning of meh-tah-mor-FOH-oh. It is the transfiguration that comes from transformation. Trans + formation. Transcendent—meaning it comes from somewhere outside of us. Formation—meaning deep change within us. Not to be confused with "self-improvement," meh-tah-mor-FOH-oh is change of another order of magnitude. Now, here's the kicker. This power word, meh-tah-mor-FOH-oh, appears only two more times in the Bible (beyond the transfiguration account in Mark's Gospel). And they both just so happen to be two of my favorite texts in all of Scripture.  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed [meh-tah-mor-FOH-oh] by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom. 12:1–2) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces beholding the Lord’s glory, are being transformed [meh-tah-mor-FOH-oh] into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:17–18)  Notice what these two power texts have in common. I underlined it. "Be transformed" and "being transformed." They convey receptivity rather than activity.  Meh-tah-mor-FOH-oh is not something you do. It's something Jesus does. Our job is simply to get ourselves and keep ourselves in Jesus hands. Those two operative words in our texts are "offer" and "behold" respectively. And now you see it—how consecration leads to transformation becoming demonstration.  And that's how people really change, really.  PRAY Our Father, thank you for your Son, Jesus. Lord Jesus, we must have this—transfiguration—transcendent formation. And yet we know the only way to have this is to have you. To know you is to love you and to love you is to become like you, to be remade in your image. Lead us in this way. We will follow. Praying in your name, amen.