What does it look like to have lasting change as a follower of Jesus? I’ve been pondering this lately.
Ideally, I’d like lasting change to involve waving a magic wand and the thing to be done. Or in Christian expression, I’d prefer for God to perform a mind-blowing miracle that will change the issue that needs fixing. I’ve spent a lot of time imagining mind-blowing miracles. And He certainly can do that, but I find that more and more God is a God of time and process, which is very frustrating for performance and results-driven people like me.
At the beginning of my Christian journey, I meditated on Romans 12:2 CSB a lot,
“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
I would ponder this verse a lot and ask God to help me transform my mind by revealing to me what was carnal about my thoughts and what to exchange them for. I asked God to help me discern His good, pleasing and perfect will, and He took me on a journey that I am still on today.
What I did not anticipate was the difficulty in a journey where following what I believed to be His perfect will would not produce the type of results I preferred. I also did not anticipate the time and the complexity of the process. As I look back on my journey with writing, my inclination for efficiency would have preferred a direct route to my destination without obstacles. But since that’s not the case, I must go to scripture for grounding.
I’m reminded of the blog I wrote about lessons from Ruth’s story. One lesson I highlighted was process. God typically works in some sort of process, even if it’s one that makes little sense to us. The process is a vehicle for transforming us from glory to glory. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 CSB,
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
In Ruth’s story, we see the process transformed her from glory to glory. She went from married to widowed to immigrant with new beliefs to caretaker of her mother-in-law to mentee to wife to mother to the lineage of Jesus. If we were to graph Ruth’s life, it would likely look a zig-zag: positive slope at her first marriage, negative slope after being widowed with the beginnings of a positive slope when she finds a field to glean from and gains favor there.
The caveat is that to be transformed into glory, we must also participate in Christ’s suffering. Romans 9:16-17 CSB,
“The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
Ruth suffered. Lost her husband. Gleaned fields as a poor migrant. Took care of a bitter and grieving mother-in-law. While also processing her own grief. But gradually, things changed. She kept taking the next logical step, and things eventually went on an upward trajectory for her.
So how does this answer the question? What does lasting change look like? For a follower of Jesus, it looks less like a sudden mind- blowing miracle and more like Ruth’s slow zig-zagging journey with God. It’s ordinary plod-along obedience that in most is frustrating and may even feel like God is absent. Like Ruth, we rarely see the entire picture, but we can be faithful to the next step while gleaning, being present and laying down all of who we are in front of God.
Friend, how about you? What does lasting change look like?
If you would like to go deeper on this subject, I’ve created a reflection journaling guide for you to process where you might be.
Until next week …
Miracles + Blessings!
Brenda
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