April 25, 2025
The events of the past, the experience of our lives – they’re not just history passing away, they’re crucial elements of who we are.
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul explained how it works. It’s revealed in what we know, even if we don’t know it yet. People of faith suffer the exigencies of life. And even the created universe is frustrated and groaning to be liberated. Yet, we endure in hope — not giving up — knowing that the Spirit of God helps us in our weaknesses. We don’t always know what to ask for but we know He intercedes for us according to God’s will for us. And we know that God takes the “all things” of our lives and forms them to benefit us. Such works of God form us into who we are. Yet, with the Psalmist, we can say that “such knowledge is too wonderful” for us! It is above our ability to clearly understand!
And we all have a past, skeletons in the closet one might say. But though in the past we lived in disobedience, we have now received mercy, through Jesus Christ, because the Old Testament people of faith became disobedient. And God allowed them, as well as every nation of the world, to become disobedient so that He might have mercy on them all. No one is perfect. Everyone needs God. And by God’s grace, through faith in Christ, we have obtained eternal salvation.
And it is the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in us that makes the difference. So, Paul said, “offer your bodies (total self) as sacrifices of holy and pleasing worship to God.” This yielding to the Holy Spirit is crucial to growing and maturing. It is, in fact, essential for our transformation. By yielding to the Holy Spirit, we refuse to conform to the world’s pattern and practices. From that initial act of repentance and faith, the Holy Spirit continues transformation by renewing our minds.
The great benefit of renewing our minds is that we can test what is God’s will for our lives. In addition, we can affirm that it is God’s will for us. But ultimately it gives us confidence that we are pleasing God by doing His good and perfect will. From my perspective, there is no greater peace than confidently knowing that I am serving His will.
This whole knowing thing points to sober critical thinking about ourselves. What we lack and need. Where we need to reform our lives. How we can restructure the fabric of our lives. It is thinking about what God is doing or wants to do with us. It’s about not arrogantly thinking we are more than we are. We don’t know everything. We don’t have enough faith to do everything. However, God gave each of us enough faith to achieve His plan, purpose, and will in our present context. In a word, you have enough faith to do what He has called you to do in life.
Yet, there is more to learn. More after high school. More after college, university, and seminary. Yes, there is stuff you don’t know and need to learn. The Apostle Paul taught us that we have a responsibility to one another. The strong are supposed to support the weak, being patient with their failures. We are to follow Christ’s example of self-sacrifice and serving others. We identify with imperfect people, their weakness and failures. As Christ did, we “suffer” on behalf of the needs of others. We live to serve others. We increase our knowledge base to serve others.
In order to selflessly serve them, we continually learn. But where do we learn it? Paul said, “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us.” Of course, Paul’s context is Christ’s selfless service, along with His attitude and thinking. The point of learning from the Scripture is to learn endurance and encouragement. This is important in every aspect of life.
Our faith is important in life, essential really. But our life and work isn’t just about faith. Success in life is about enduring to the end, our goal. It’s about not quitting or giving up before achieving the desired end. It’s about reforming and restructuring and continuing to learn in order to become who God has chosen us to become. And the Scriptures teach us encouragement by revealing the human weaknesses and failures of Old Testament heroes who refused to let their humanity defeat them. And that provides hope for us in our context that we can make it too. Then the three elements of endurance, encouragement, and hope empower us to access “the same attitude of mind” toward others that Christ practiced.
Now the crucial element of your identity falls on the reality of where you have come from, what you have experienced, and what you have learned. You see, your life isn’t just about you. It isn’t just about new year opportunities, your dreams, and seasons of life. It’s about transforming who you are so that you can help others be transformed. One last time listen to Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, we give God praise and honor because He is compassionate and “comforts us in all our troubles.” But He doesn’t want us to selfishly waste His compassion and comfort on ourselves. He comforts us in our troubles “so that we can comfort” others, in their troubles, with the comfort He has given us.
Perhaps you’ve never thought about your life from this angle before. If you need a reason — a purpose or goal — for improving your life this is it. Be Transformed to Transform Others. That too is a crucial element of life.