Transformed into the Image of Christ

God spoke to His people in Jeremiah 13:23:  "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil."  Through Jeremiah the prophet, God told the people of Judah they were incapable of self-reform.  They were accustomed to doing evil and had no power to be righteous.  The skin pigment of a person and the natural markings of a leopard's fur are due to genetics.  If a leopard should want to look like a zebra, it is a change the leopard would be incapable of making.  The day when pigs can fly and grizzly bears are born with lime green fur will be the day when people can turn from their sin to doing good on their own.  But God is able to do what is impossible for man or beast.  He is not in the business in changing spots to stripes:  He is the One who transforms people from within.  All are born with a sin nature, but Jesus gives us forgiveness, new hearts, a future, and an unfailing hope.

Living longer has afforded me the blessing (and sometimes feels like a curse!) of being able to look back upon my life and the way God has changed me.  I naturally am like the leopard, unable to change myself.  When I look back to my years of high school, college, and university, I do not like what I see.  I am saddened by how I used to be:  the way I spoke, the things I thought were important, the way I thought about others, especially how my heart was far from God.  I led a "clean" life in many respects if compared to some, but my heart was as filthy as ever.  I rejoice today that I am not the person I once was.  Should someone from Grossmont High School who knew me converse with me today, they would not be speaking to the same person.  I have completely changed:  it is not I who have changed, but Jesus Christ in me.

Even though I have been changed, I still have my unique personality and perspective.  It is like the real me was initially suppressed by my ignorance, pride, and foolishness and now, more than ever, the purity of who I am in Christ has begun to shine through brighter than ever.  This is a transformation all people are incapable of.  I know better than anyone that I am too stubborn and stupid to change myself.  Only God, through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, could possibly create such an inner transformation.  I am not perfect, but I am moving towards perfection.  I am by God's grace heading in the right direction.  Captain Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" had a compass that directed him to wherever he wanted to go.  In my natural state I held no such luxury in my hands or heart.    Pursuing the desires of my flesh drove me away from God and into bondage.  There was no climbing out of the pit I dug for myself, and I was headed to certain destruction in Hell.

I am thankful that God revealed Himself to me through His Word, the Bible.  When I decided to actually follow Jesus with my life, for the first time I had real direction and purpose.  Because God transformed me from within through the Gospel, I actually had the power to do what I knew to be right and flee from temptations to do wrong.  The Holy Spirit became my Guide and Helper.  I always admired the wisdom, power, and love of Jesus Christ.  Even as a child, I always wanted to be like Him.  But when I went my own way I could never make the change.  Lady Gaga at the moment is touring Australia, and many of her fans whom she calls "Little Monsters" come to her shows with dyed hair and costumes.  She has even written a "Manifesto of Little Monsters."  A portion reads, "We are nothing without our image. Without our projection. Without the spiritual hologram of who we perceive ourselves to be, or rather to become, in the future."  People can create an image, but that is not who they are.  They can dye their hair, put on make-up, create and wear wild costumes, and sing along, but that is merely an outward expression of an inner desire, a longing, a "spiritual hologram" that is empty and void of saving power.

Contrast this superficial change with the inner transformation and sanctification through faith in Jesus Christ as LORD and Saviour:  2 Corinthians 3:16-18 reads, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."  The greatest freedom I have found is through salvation through Jesus Christ.  As Christians fix their eyes upon Jesus, we begin to reflect the One we look upon.  Previous to this passage, Paul was talking about how the face of Moses shone when he enjoyed prolonged fellowship with God on Mount Sinai.  When we look upon Jesus in faith, we see Him with unveiled face.  The same way a person stands before a mirror to examine their face is like when we open the scriptures, pray, and make Jesus the focus of our lives.  The more we look to Him the more we are like Him because of the transforming work He does within.

I am being transformed into the same image of Christ, not by the outward things that I attempt to do, but because of the work the Holy Spirit is doing within me.  Titus 3:5 tells us it is "...not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit..."  By God's grace, I much more resemble Christ today than when I was a teen.  Thinking back upon my High School days is like eating a mouthful of sawdust!  Should God tarry, I expect that one day I will look upon myself today with as great as disdain as I do upon the days of my youth because I will be more Christ-like still.  And when God calls me home into His everlasting presence and takes me from this world, do not weep for me.  That will be my great coronation day, the day when I am finally transformed into the image of the One who loves me and gave His blood and life for me, Jesus Christ.  I will not become Christ, but I will be like Him - in a way more profound and real than I can even imagine.

No man can change themselves, especially when it comes to sin.  If you look back 20 years, do you like what you see?  Look at yourself now:  how will you be in another 20 years if you continue your current track?  Where will you spend eternity?  I urge you to examine yourself in light of scripture, considering Christ and His claims.  What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose His own soul? (Mark 8:34-38)