Introduction: Gospel Formed Life

Who Am I Becoming?

“You're becoming exactly like your mother.”

The statement lingered over me like a lead balloon. Maybe you've been there. Maybe you've heard it yourself. Maybe not that accusation or appreciation, but something similar.

“You're becoming just like your father.”

“You remind me so much of your grandmother.”

“Your aunt smiles just like that.”

“You're as stubborn as your uncle.”

It's why the Progressive Insurance commercials are hilarious. We relate to becoming just like our parents every time we add a little neurotic behavior here and a little conversation that wasn't needed there. As we choose clothing based more on comfort level than style, we find ourselves becoming more like someone else. It’s inevitable whether we like it or not.

The truth is we are all becoming something, or better put, becoming someone.

We don't think of it often until those little moments when it hits home. I think we all, for the most part, recognize it. We recognize that it's happening to us. We recognize that our tastes aren't the same.

Our energy level isn't the same.

Our hopes and our desires aren't the same.

What we want and what we wish for changes just a little bit through the years.

I once had this middle age couple in for a marital counseling session. In the middle of the session, the husband angrily expressed frustration with his wife of 20 years. He said to me but really to her, “She knew who she was getting before we ever got married! Nothing's changed about me, and nothing will."

She quickly snarked back," His waistline and hairline have changed!"

The author Lewis Smedes once put it this way, “My wife has lived with at least five different men since we were wed—and each of the five has been me.”

Each of us is changing and becoming someone else.

Ironically, this way of changing comes from the never-changing God. In his creative wisdom, God gave us the ability to change. He gave us the gift of transformation.

Right in the creation narrative of Genesis 2, we see that transformation already taking place before the fruit of the tree of good and evil has ever been consumed.

God looks at Adam and see's his need for transformation and change. God puts him to sleep, and from the flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, he adds to Adam a helpmate, Eve. In doing so, he changes forever what it means to be human.

It might seem worthwhile to neglect or ignore the transformation in our life. We might try to hold on as firmly as possible to the person and lifestyle we have now. In the mirror, we look at our exhausted, weary, withered faces and say unconvincingly, “I like who I am. I don't need to change for anyone." Secular influencers push us relentlessly with phrases like “I was born this way” and “don’t change for anyone.”

Yet, that's not the voice of God. God has gone to great lengths to bring transformation to our lives. He understands that we are all becoming someone. He has invested the life of his own son as the cost of our change into goodness.

So we start the introduction today with four formative questions that we will work through the rest of the week.

1. Do I understand that I am changing whether I want to or not?
2. Who is the person I'm becoming?
3. Who is influencing my transformation?
4. How is this transformation taking place?

As you read the passage for today's devotional, linger on these questions.

Have I changed in my life? What are the ways I have already changed?

Do I understand transformation as a gift from God?

What is scary or frightening about changing?