Spiritual Transformation

Have you ever wrestled with what spiritual transformation looks like in real terms? I think we all struggle with what may for us be ideally something we would like to experience, but aren't always sure what it means in practical and measurable terms. I am not going to suggest there is a formula or a simple three or five step process. But I was provided some food for thought in a presentation by David Collins at a recent C.E.M.A. (Calgary Evangelical Ministerial Association.) David suggested that arrogance, self indulgance and indifference are some common characteristics of human beings. What David pointed out was that if we are exposed to the life of Jesus and are willing to submit to imitating the qualities that he modeled we will gradually see a shift or transformation that will see other tendencies surface that replace:

• arrogance with humility
• self indulgence with generosity and
• indifference with sensitivity

With the goal in mind to expose yourself to a process of transformation that will result in this kind of change is a daunting task. On our own it would be virtually impossible, but as believers we need to realize that God has offered a helper, His Spirit to be our companion. But he also has the intention that we will find community and relationships with like-minded people that can partner with us and our shared journey and provide us with the ongoing reminder of our goal to have the preferred qualities, humility, generosity and sensitivity become descriptors of our character. We likewise want to be an encourager of those whose life path we cross to set similar goals to become all God wants us to be - to be salt and light and to be ambassadors of our Heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to experience relationship with Him.

I want to acknowledge that there are many who I am able to share the journey of life with who are real encouragers and want to be able to impact many more folks as the journey continues. May we all find ways of being transformed to replace undesirable qualities with desirable ones and may we influence for good those who we have cross our path.

Have a great weekend!