Painful Transformation

Posted On February 27, 2022

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed 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.”

Romans 12:2 NIV

“Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through. That includes loneliness, temptation, stress, criticism, rejection, and many other problems.”

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

As a preacher’s kid, I grew up in the Church. I was baptized as an infant and confirmed my faith as a teenager, so I have been a Christian my entire life. But I never made a serious effort to embrace my faith and let it transform me until about two-and-a-half years ago. Why then? Because I was desperate for answers. I won’t bore you with the details, but I was struggling in several areas of my life and confused about God’s plan. I prayed for guidance, and Romans 12:2 was the verse God used to speak to me. He told me to be transformed by the renewing of my mind and then I would know what to do.

So I did. I got serious about reading Scripture, devotionals, and other Christian books. I got serious about prayer, asking God to transform me and tell me His will for my life. And I got serious about listening for His voice in everything with an obedient heart, ready and willing to obey Him no matter what. I started journaling like crazy, desperately pouring out my heart to the Holy Spirit and ravenously devouring every morsel of guidance and instruction He gave me through my daily readings. Thus began the most exciting, but also the most difficult, phase in my faith journey so far. Why difficult? Because, as I am discovering, transformation can be very painful.

“Growth is often painful and scary. There is no growth without change; there is no change without fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain. Every change involves a loss of some kind: You must let go of old ways in order to experience the new.”

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'”

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

When God looks at us, He sees beyond what the world sees. He sees not just who we are now but who we can become. He knows our character, our dreams, and our desires, and He knows how to use everything we experience to transform us into the people we are meant to be. But He never promises it will be easy. In order to heal our hearts, He has to make us face our pain. In order to help us grow, He has to push beyond what we think we are able to accomplish. In order to refine our faith, He has to test it . . . a lot! All of these things are difficult and sometimes painful, but they are necessary for our spiritual growth and transformation.

Being the nerd that I am, when I was trying to come up with a good illustration to use in this week’s post, the scene that came to mind was the transformation of Steve Rogers into Captain America. Before we get to it, however, I thought we could back up and look at why Steve Rogers was chosen for this responsibility in the first place. Here is a scene from Captain America: The First Avenger . . .

Steve Rogers was just a skinny kid from Brooklyn. He was not strong or tough, and he was often a target of bullies. But in spite of this, or perhaps because of it, he had a strength of character beyond what all the other soldiers had. And this was the quality that led him to become more than he ever dreamed possible. Here is his transformation scene . . .

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV

Steve Rogers’s transformation was very painful. When everyone else was ready to call it off, he stopped them by shouting “I can do this!” I believe God listens for us to say the same thing. Unlike a fictional superhero transformation, Christian transformation is not instant. It’s a long, slow process, and God doesn’t push us harder than we are able to go. I have often been frustrated by my lack of progress. I have often been tempted to quit. But God patiently waits for me to realize that with His help I can do this! Then I’m ready to let Him push me a little further.

“Although God could instantly transform us, he has chosen to develop us slowly. Jesus is deliberate in developing his disciples. Just as God allowed the Israelites to take over the Promised Land ‘little by little’ so they wouldn’t be overwhelmed, he prefers to work in incremental steps in our lives.”

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

God can use all our circumstances to transform us, but often it’s the painful ones that bring about the biggest changes in our lives. It’s through hardships that we learn to depend on God. One of my daily devotional readings mentioned a man named Dan who suffered a spinal cord injury in a bad motorcycle accident and was left a paraplegic:

“Dan prayed for healing, but it never came. Instead, he believes God has compassionately taught him that ‘the purpose of this life is that we become conformed to the image of Christ. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen when everything is unicorns and rainbows. It . . . happens when life is tough. When we’re forced to rely upon God through prayer just to make it through the day.'”

Marvin Williams, Our Daily Bread

While we may not have had to endure this type of hardship, we all face struggles in our lives. If we turn to God during our painful experiences, He can use them to help us grow and mature as Christians. But we have to be willing to let Him. He will help us, but we shouldn’t expect everything to be “unicorns and rainbows.” As we keep growing and maturing, we will keep facing trials, tests, and temptations. We have to be determined to persevere and push through the pain, trusting that God will bring us through it and use it to produce something good in us. So rather than fear these experiences, He wants us to embrace them as part of the process.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope”

Romans 5:3-4 ESV

The transformation process is painful, but the end result is worth it. We won’t gain superhero powers, but we will have access to supernatural power from the Holy Spirit to help us become more and more like Christ. And if we let Him, God will transform us into more than we ever dreamed possible. No matter who we are, God can use us to do His work and to glorify Him with our lives. As we see in this clip, even a fictional superhero can be a witness!

This week’s Scripture passages remind us that we are new in Christ and that God keeps working in us to make us more like Him. He gives us the power we need to persevere through all the trials we face. And He promises that His help, we can do this. When God looks at us, He sees beyond what the world sees. Let’s trust Him to transform us into the amazing people He knows we can be!

“So when you face struggles, always remind yourself that Jesus has your best interest in mind. No matter what happens, your unconditionally loving, all-wise, all-powerful God has you in His hand and will work all things together for your good as you walk with Him.”

Charles F. Stanley, God’s Purpose for Your Life

References:

• “The Avengers 2012 – There is only 1 GOD scene.” YouTube, uploaded by Fargan Hasanzade, 9 October 2012, https://youtu.be/GSnHM3rn1jc.
• “Grenade Scene – Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Movie Clip HD.” YouTube, uploaded by ShortClips, 4 May 2019, https://youtu.be/lSab01vhpoY.
• “Steve Rogers Transformation Scene Captain America The First Avenger 2011 HD.” YouTube, uploaded by Marvel DC United, 10 December 2016, https://youtu.be/kY5qpY8Lzpc.
• Williams, Marvin. “Not for Our Comfort.” Our Daily Bread, vol. 66, nos. 10-12, 5 February 2022.
• Stanley, Charles F. God’s Purpose for Your Life: 365 Devotions. Thomas Nelson, 2020.
• Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Zondervan, 2002.

Images:

• Electricity Man featured image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
• Brain image by Ermal Tahiri from Pixabay
• Captain America’s Shield image by Clau M from Pixabay
• Laser Lights image by Tomislav Jakupec from Pixabay
• Butterfly image by ipicgr from Pixabay