Our Transformation Is A Gift
September 16, 2013 1 Comment
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8, 9 NKJV
“Gift-something acquired without compensation”
Sometimes I think that my transformation as a Christian was my own effort.
I wake up every morning reaching for my smartphone and directly opens the youversion app and start reading the “Today’s Verse”. Who would do that normally? I would look and observe my wife as she wakes up in the morning and what she does first is check her email or messages or Facebook account. (I don’t have a Facebook account anymore because I deactivated it because of no purpose in my life except that I used it as an alternative to keep in touch with people that I don’t know deeply. I wanted a real way to connect with other people aside from posting my activities, pictures and updates randomly showing that I’m trying to get in touch… this will be another post.)
On Sunday morning, I will always wake up at 0730, drink a cup of coffee and then off to church. To me, this used to be ‘not the normal’ thing many years ago.
Is this discipline? Is this being so organized? Is this because I was in the military that when I have an objective for the day, I must execute and complete? Am I forced by my rigid principles in life? Is my action was a part of the brainwashing of my mind as I devote my life to Christ?
So one day, I stopped reading my daily verse and tried to be normal. I would not read the Bible for days and just be doing my normal routines without the “Bible Stuff”. If you had been following this journal, you will notice that I always post the daily verse everyday without fail but lately I had been missing days.
It turned out that I cannot get away from the Word of God anymore. I just realized that it is not the reading of the Word that matters most. It is the heart inside me that has been given the privilege to become a follower of Christ. This heart has been transformed already that even the external things that I do apart from the Christian way does not matter anymore. A seed has been planted deep inside me that no matter what my actions are, my conscience will always lead me back to the place where God inspired me to do – to listen to Him in whatever way possible.
For those of you who are struggling to read the Bible and get up and attend church, don’t be discouraged, the desire will come. Don’t force yourself to do things that you don’t like to do. One day your transformation will be completed and you look back years from today and say to yourself, “I did not do this by myself, it was a gift given to me”.
See it at YouVersion.com:
Being transformed radically to another status of life is really a ” precious gift from God to me “. I could not be St. Paul – from persecutor of the Christians to an ardent preacher of the Gospel, yet, God is the Author of who i become now. It was not that easy to arrive where God wanted me. I met hardships, incomprehensions, discouragement etc..but God is always there for me.
My transformation is in continue process and i don’t have to stop where i am now. It’s not enough to rise up daily at dawn or at midnight to pray, hear mass everyday, read the Bible but part of it, I should have aim to perfection loving God and my brethren !