When I gave my life to Christ I found myself in Scripture often, and from my readings I began a transformation process that I would say was the groundwork to many blessings. I was impacted so much by the written Word that I naïvely thought I had mastered some of the directives given in Scripture, like the fruit of the Spirit, for instance. What I didn’t realize was that the change on the inside was not complete, but that I was being refined, more and more.
The “Finisher” had just begun a work! I thought the work was complete when I gave my life to Christ but I found out very quickly that my love for God did not automatically mean I was stripped from me, or my ways, or my world. In other words, I found out that my conversion experience made my spirit alive in Christ but it did not mean my soul (my mind, my will, my imaginations, emotions, or my intellect) was affected or transformed at all.
You see, life in Christ is to grow, develop, or transform from one state of being to another, in the soulish realm. {tweetme}It is a progressive surrender, a moving away from personal feelings and inclinations, to His ways and to His Word. This is the refining process—that Christ be formed within (Galatians 4:19).{/tweetme} It’s a process of dethroning self and enthroning Christ, a process of being spiritually minded rather than carnally minded, a process of being a slave to righteousness instead of to sin.
And, when we give precedence to the process, Christ will live and reign within (Galatians 2:20) because we’ve made a conscious and daily decision to, “put on the Lord Jesus” (Romans 13:14), “walk as a child of light” (Ephesians 5:8), “cleanse” self (2 Timothy 2:20), “add to faith” (2 Peter 1:5), and, “lay aside all malice” among other things (1 Peter 2:1). This is the process that continues until we image Christ; that is, until we can look in the mirror and see a reflection of Him!
Note, this is not an automatic process! Neither will the transformation happen with time. Time alone does not mature us, rather, time is the grace we’re given to mature, to work out our salvation, and to change. And, His grace is the fulfillment of the promise He made in Philippians 1:6—to complete the work He has started in each of our lives.
If we resist the process of change, we will delay our spiritual progress and find ourselves barren and unproductive in life (according to 2 Peter 1:5-9). If, however, we engage the process of inner change, we’ll not just become spiritually formed but we’ll experience true freedom and concrete blessings!
Qwynn Gross is a Christian Union ministry fellow working with students at Princeton University.She is known as an inspiring and practical teacher and has created several resources as well as authored books on spiritual devotion: A Pattern for Prayer, A Guide to Consecrated Living, and Teach Me To Pray. She is a conference host and a sought-after speaker at women's conferences, workshops and retreats. A graduate of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, Qwynn is married to Trevón, the lead pastor of Hope Cathedral. The two have three children: Trevón, Jr., Dianna, and Sarah.
