Quotes about Transformation

The governing assumption today, among professing Christians, is that we can be "Christians" forever and never become disciples.

We settle back into de facto alienation of our religion from Jesus as a friend and teacher, and from our moment-to-moment existence as a holy calling or appointment with God. Some will substitute ritual behavior for divine vitality and personal integrity; others may be content with an isolated string of "experiences" rather than transformation of character.

And worry are worthless—indeed, vain—emotions. If you are frightened or afraid, there is no use feeling guilty about it. What you need to do is fix your mind upon God and ask him to fill your mind with himself. And as your mind is transformed, your whole personality will be transformed, including your body and your feelings. The transformation of the self away from a life of fear and insufficiency takes place as we fix our minds upon God as he truly is.

He calls us to him to impart himself to us. He does not call us to do what he did, but to be as he was, permeated with love. Then the doing of what he did and said becomes the natural expression of who we are in him.

If we are to be transformed, the body must be transformed, and that is not accomplished by talking at it.

New Testament passages make plain that this kingdom is not something to be "accepted" now and enjoyed later, but something to be entered now (Matt. 5:20; 18:3; John 3:3, 5). It is something that already has flesh-and-blood citizens (John 18:36; Phil. 3:20) who have been transformed into it (Col. 1:13) and are fellow workers in it (Col. 4:11).

We are not machines that can be repaired through a series of steps—we are relational beings who are transformed by the mystery of relationship.

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.

"Then his flesh is renewed like a child's; it is restored as in the days of his youth."

You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.

Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring.

Instead of trying to conquer sin by working hard to change our actions, we can conquer sin by trusting Christ to change our affections.