All tagged transformed

Do We Wear the Jacket or the Ring of Holiness?

Richard Forbes
Daily Devotional, Becoming Holy

Have you ever been shopping or at a restaurant and seen an older couple walking together that have the same stride, have the same mannerisms, the same inflections in their speech, and in some strange way even resemble each other? It would be easy to mistake them as brother and sister, but they are in fact husband and wife. This is what years of love and living together does... it joins us in ways that we often can't explain and that are so subtle we barely realize it’s happening. Our faith and holiness should unite us with Christ in much the same way. 

Are We a Piece of Heaven?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Pieces of Heaven

Do we feel particularly unworthy this morning? When we rose from bed did we feel dulled by the world as if we had lost our spiritual sheen? Well, cast that feeling off because we are living stones... pieces of heaven. When we look into the mirror we should rejoice, and see ourselves as a reflection of Christ’s perfection; we should see ourselves as a reflection of the Kingdom which is to come.

Being Transformed by our Belief

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Transformed

When we accept Jesus as Lord are we open to a complete life altering change in who we are, or simply asking Him to alter us in a few handpicked ways? Do we want to become like Jesus and be transformed into His perfect image by becoming a better and more righteous person, or do we simply want to pick and choose those attributes He exhibits that we believe will serve us well in our existing lives? Let’s ask ourselves questions like this… Do I want to be a slightly kinder person, or do I want to be kind as Jesus is kind? Do I want to be more humble, or do I want to be perfectly humble as Jesus is? God wants us to be transformed, but to what degree are we willing to accept the transformation? Will we conform to a complete mental, behavioral, and spiritual change and in so doing obey God’s will for us in its entirety?

Is bearing the image of Jesus enough?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Image of Jesus

When we walk through life do we carry with us the fragrance of Jesus; the scent of Heaven, and the very odor of God? Do people not only see Christ in us, but are the blind able to smell His aroma as we approach? We talk about being transformed into the image of Jesus, but there is more to this than the way we look… we are to become like Him in every way… right down to the smell of his cloak, and the sound of His approaching footsteps. Is this what we are becoming each day?

Our Hope and Transformation is made certain in Christ

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Transformed by Faith

The Lord takes each of us into His hand as a weak and fragile thing, and then begins To remake us. He takes the broken and deformed among us, then makes us whole… strong enough to do His will. This is our God who can take a lowly worm, and make it like iron, and can even giving it teeth strong enough to crush mountains. Our Father transforms us from lost sinners into righteous men and women… into His own children. Are we ready to feel the change that faith in Jesus, and prayer in His name, is promised to bring us? Are we trusting, and brave enough, to believe, and thus become what we never dreamed possible?

Transformed, Sanctified, and made Holy

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Transformation

We are transformed by our faith, and become new creatures in Christ, but this is not a change that is completed the instant we first believe. We do experience a sudden change that is truly amazing, but then the longer process of refinement begins as day by day we are led to perfect ourselves further. Over the course of our relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we are shown the more subtle fleshy faults in ourselves, faults that we must pray about, and lean on God, as His children, for help in removing.

Transformation, and becoming a New Creation in Christ; What does that mean?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , New Creation

We read scriptural references regarding our becoming a new person once we have accepted Jesus as our savior, and many of us think that this simply means we aren’t to sin anymore, but it is much more than that. Our transformation as Christians becomes complete, just like our love for God... we are to be transformed heart, soul, body, and mind. Every facet of our being is to become new, and our old self and life not just modified in some way, but put to death... it shouldn’t exist any longer. What was once ME having become what is now CHRIST.

The Return of Jesus Christ, and our Resurrection Body

Richard Forbes
Christian, Daily Devotional , Resurrection Body

To be with God, and Jesus Christ, we must be changed. Laying aside, for a moment, the spiritual transformation we have been undergoing throughout our lives of faith, we are meant to be changed physically as well. This bodily change will not be a lifelong process, but occur in an instant, in a moment, and take place when Jesus returns to claim us. Are we prepared for that instant of indestructible foreverness?

Transformed into the Image of Christ, now and forever

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Transformed

We say we are Christians; we say that our lives have been transformed by Christ, but has that conversion been solidified in the heat of our faith’s kiln, or is it still malleable, and able to be reshaped by the world around us? Our new Christ-like self is meant to be as He is... without sin, and founded on the Word of God, but we often treat it as temporary, and as such it does us little good. How firm are we in our faith, and how strong is the new creation that Jesus has molded us into?