Saul, accuser and persecutor of the Saints, sees a blinding light, hears a mysterious voice, and becomes Paul – Christ’s Ambassador and Apostle to the Gentiles. As Christians, we often marvel at having such a wonderful conversion story to tell – and at the powerful and undeniable change in Paul that resulted.
While it is true, not everyone has such a dramatic conversion experience; the Bible is clear that everyone is to be dramatically changed by their conversion experience. Your life “in Christ” is new! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.” (II Corinthians 5:17).
This being the case, does your current lifestyle significantly differ from your pre-conversion lifestyle? Another way to look at this, is to ask if the way you live looks any different than those you know who are unsaved? Do you both watch the same television shows, share the same expensive, time-consuming hobbies, and both equally maxed out with personal credit card debt?
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 that we are not to be “conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (NASB). The Greek word for “transformed” is “mĕtamŏrphŏō”. Using the old KJV Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, I found this meaning: to transform (literally or figuratively “metamorphose”) – change, transfigure, transform.
This definition really improved my understanding of Romans 12:2. First, I was completely amazed to find the root of this word being so similar to our word for metamorphosis – the miraculous change of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Let me share with you a bit about this insect’s life cycle. The tiny eggs look like flecks of dust on a twig or leaf. They hatch out caterpillars so small you would hardly notice their squirming little bodies. Then they eat, and they eat, and they eat. As you might guess, they also grow! Soon they form their chrysalis cocoons and the miracle of transformation takes place.
I think it is interesting to realize this change would not be possible without the critter’s voracious appetite. Can you imagine their dismal failure if they ate only a few nibbles of a leaf, a couple times a week? They would die of starvation – with no transformation at all. I think that’s what happens to some new Christians when they aren’t given enough encouragement to be faithful in the Word. Jesus tells us in the Parable of the Sower that the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life can choke out our time in God’s Word and rob us of maturity as well as our fruit-bearing ability (Luke 8:14).
Sometimes I think we seem to encourage new believers to not study the Bible. When we say, “Congratulations – now you have eternal life!”, we imply they’ve arrived and there’s nothing else to do but wait to die and receive their reward. But can you imagine the explosion of growth in their tiny, imperceptible spiritual life if they went right home and read John’s gospel that same day? Then the next day they read 3 or 4 short epistles and the 3rd day plowed through Matthew?
We all want Christ-likeness, but the truth is, you can’t be or do what you don’t know. To be a disciple of Christ is to be a learner - to be a disciplined student of the things of God. We can’t hope to transform our minds if we won’t “eat” God’s Word like a hungry caterpillar! After Paul’s conversion, he spent three years in Arabia, consuming and transforming before beginning his ministry as Apostle and Ambassador for Christ (Galatians 1:15-18). Likewise, the transformation of our lives begins with radically different thinking and that happens as we are immersed in the teachings of Jesus, being His continual, steadfast disciple.
The other thing that jumped out at me from the definition of “mĕtamŏrphŏō”, is how this word seems to equally mean both “transform” and “transfigure”. Transformation seems like a gradual process and transfigure seems more instantaneous. After a little more digging, I was able to learn that this Greek word is only used four times in the entire New Testament.
Twice this word is used in the gospels where Jesus is “transfigured” as He meets with Elijah and Moses (Matthew 17:2 and Mark 9:2). It is hard for us to know exactly what changes occurred that caused the gospel writers to use this particular word; but just imagine – it was something as dramatic as a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly! Furthermore, in Romans 12:2, we can now see that Paul says we are to dramatically re-align our thinking to this same extent. How can we do this? By hungering for God’s word like a caterpillar munches leaves!
The fourth New Testament reference using this Greek word is found in II Corinthians 3:18, here Paul is talking about how we are to be transformed into the very image of Christ. Now that’s dramatic!
So again, let’s consider Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus – was it unique? Yes, the manner of each person’s conversion is different. But no, we should each be radically transformed by a genuine encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here are journaling suggestions for you to try:
Describe the changes that have occurred in your life since receiving Christ as your Savior.
Put down on paper the details of your personal conversion experience.
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