WHAT KIND OF LIFE IS THIS?  

If the US elections revealed one thing, it is the sad reality that untransformed Christianity, even camouflaged as truth and preservation, becomes as toxic as the evil it tries to expose.

Previously we asked three critical questions.

Firstly, WHAT KIND OF GOD IS THIS?  This God who is lynched in the name of religious orthodoxy and executed in the name of imperial justice and then chooses to die in the name of love rather than to kill in the name of freedom.

And then, secondly, if this is the God we confess, WHAT KIND OF FAITH IS THIS?  A faith that does not call its followers to convert but to reverse the direction of their lives.  Yes, if following Christ did not transform my life, then I am not converted at all.  I am simply a victim of the ‘accept Jesus’ heresy!”

Thirdly, WHAT KIND OF TEACHING IS THIS?  The Bible is a book unlike any other.  It is a book that contains Truth – but only if read from the “bottom-up”.  Finding truth from the wrong perspective will corrupt the reader, eventually leading to pride and arrogance; two traits that will lead to spiritual death.

So, if this is the God I serve, the faith I confess, and the teachings I follow – then WHAT KIND OF LIFE IS THIS?  When the elections do not go the way I prayed, when corruption and crime seem to rule our nation.  When my fellow countrymen are threatened and cursed.  How do I respond?

You see, transformation does not happen by chance; it happens by change.  The authentic Christian life is not about spiritual GROWTH – it is about spiritual TRANSFORMATION.  It is not about more knowledge or even deeper insight into spiritual matters.  It happens when we confront ourselves, our lifestyles, our values, and our mindsets by applying a Christ consciousness.  Especially, when life throws us a curve-ball

Once we understand the difference between spiritual growth and spiritual transformation, a new world opens that leads us to embrace Christ in His fullness, not only His teachings.

Bill Plotkin offers a helpful model called the “Soulcentric Developmental Wheel.”  He describes eight stages of the spiritual journey of transformation as follows:

• It starts with BIRTH: The ego formation and age of innocence
• Then comes NAMING: Discovering and learning
• Then comes PUBERTY: Creating a secure and authentic social self
• Then comes CONFIRMATION: Leaving home and exploring mysteries
• Then comes SOUL INITIATION: Visionary action and inspiration
• Then comes INDUCTION:  Manifesting innovative systems for soul work
• Then comes CROWNING:  Wholeness
• Then comes SURRENDER:  The grace of letting go

Plotkin says that most of mainstream Western society (and Christianity for that matter) is at the third stage of adolescence, which is highly egocentric and narcissistic. As a culture, we tend to be preoccupied with our own comfort, entertainment, safety, and security.  Add religion to these vices and you end up with a highly toxic combination.

Transforming from “adolescent” to “adult” therefore ends with surrender.  This becomes a matter of life and death for every follower of Christ.

Sadly, it is possible to grow and not be transformed.  I have met countless mature believers who know Scripture, love the Lord, seek the truth, and have served faithfully in ministry but who are still “conformed to the patterns of this world.”  They have neglected to adjust how they think about political opponents, other cultures, other religions, other races and “other” people who are different in their approach to life.  I have seen how leaders and pastors with sound theologies respond to challenges in their communities and I have witnessed how few have really been transformed from puberty to maturity by the non-negotiables of Christ:  love for adversaries, forgiveness for enemies, and inclusivity for those who are different.

We find that the early teaching of transformation was adapted to a more modern-day mission buzzword, ‘making disciples’,  omitting the much-needed aspect of surrendering and dying to our own egos.

This is reflected in Church programs across the globe.  If you Google-search “discipleship training programs in churches” you will find more than 4,3 million results.

It will be a sad indictment on any believer if we enter heaven the same way that we entered faith, only perhaps with a wider Biblical knowledge.

Our theologies should be ever-evolving, always increasing and continuously expanding in love, forgiveness, knowledge and  experience.  Not because God changes but because our understanding and our position should be ever on a journey of new understandings and fresh revelations.

1 Corinthians 13:11 explains the process of an evolving theology and a continued modification of our theological position as follows:  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

• Spiritual growth in the life of a believer is the process of gaining more knowledge of -, and experience in the Christian faith.
• Spiritual transformation, however, is the process of acquiring a Christ-consciousness in becoming more like Jesus.

While we adhere to the doctrine of Christ, which is the truth, we should embrace the attitude of Christ, which is love.  Paul explains how believers need to be equipped for works of service in order for the body of Christ to be built up (Ephesians 4:13-15).  He refers to the need for knowledge in becoming mature (13), and not remain as infants, tossed back and forth by the waves; blown here and there by every wind of teaching (14).  However, Paul does not put a full stop after the need for growth in knowledge.  Paul adds the Christ-like virtues of a transformed life:  speaking the truth in love and becoming in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

A transformed life is to be a process of complete metamorphosis.  We should talk differently, think differently, live differently, and respond differently.  We should even look different.  A butterfly does not try to convince onlookers that it is a butterfly, it spreads its wings for all to see.

Scripture uses many different images to express the change that should occur in the life of a believer:

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ (born again), the new creation has come (transformation): The old has gone, the new is here!
• 1 Corinthians 15:49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man (metamorphose).
• Ephesians 4:23 …to be made new (transformation) in the attitude of your minds.
• Colossians 3:9-10  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self (transformation), which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
• Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
• John 3:3  Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
• 1 Peter 1:23  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
• Romans 12:2  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.
• 2 Corinthians 3:18  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.

Each of these Scriptures, in a different way, emphasizes the importance and significance of a complete overhaul, embracing a changed life.  Not only new birth and growth but transformation.  Each is as dramatic as it is traumatic and indicates a progressive process that is life-sustaining at the least or, if abandoned at any point, life-threatening.  We are talking about a transformation that should be visible to others, but its inner working should be far greater than what others can perceive.

Richard Rohr describes it as follows:

“The price for real transformation is high. It means that we have to change our loyalties from power, success, money, ego, and control to the imitation of a vulnerable God where servanthood, surrender, and simplicity reign. Of course, most people never imagine God as vulnerable, humble, or incarnate in matter. We see God as Almighty, and that vision validates almightiness all the way down the chain.”

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