Being Real > Being Perfect: How Transparency Leads to TransformationSample

The Need for Heart Transformation

We equate transformation with being fixed. It’s a linear procedure with a starting point, a predictable process, and an ending. If we can heal ourselves, then everything will be better.

Can I share something with you? God doesn’t want to fix you; He wants to transform your heart. Unfortunately, heart transformation doesn’t happen as neatly and predictably as us being fixed.

Life is an accumulation of sins, hurts, and disappointments. Maybe you were raped in high school. Maybe you had a one-night stand in college. Maybe you were physically or sexually abused as a kid. Maybe you had an abortion. Maybe you cheated on your first wife and are now married to the woman with whom you cheated. Maybe your dad left when you were a kid. Maybe someone said you were fat when you were ten, and you’ve felt fat ever since. Maybe you were fired from your dream job.

What I am learning is the amount of transformation I am capable of experiencing is in direct proportion to my willingness to understand my hurts and completely surrender them to the redeeming power of Christ. God promises to re-create you—that is how committed to your transformation He is.

When the people of Israel were in exile as a result of their unfaithfulness, God did more than promise to make life easier for them. He prescribed spiritual transplant surgery. “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart” (Ezekiel 36:26).

So many people wear themselves out merely trying to fix their problems when God longs to transform their hearts. Maybe that is where you are. You’ve exhausted yourself trying to stop, trying to get better, trying to “be a good Christian.” Things improve for a week, a month, or a year, but then you come back to this place of discouragement or discontentment.

The life you long for is available. It comes through being authentic. In this way, God does more than make you better; He makes you brand-new.

In what ways do you need to place your transformation in the hands of Christ?