Genuine Gospel Transformation: Part 2

Over the past couple of weeks I've been reflecting on what we are really looking to see as evidence of genuine Gospel transformation in people's lives as the “good news” takes root in their hearts. In looking back over my life I realized how much I have been influenced by my own life experience.

From my own church upbringing I sensed a clear expectation of certain levels of behavioral change that would evidence the fact that someone was genuinely born again. This often included unwritten, but very well understood lists of both "dos” and “don'ts". We used to say tongue in cheek, “We don’t drink, dance or chew and we don’t go with girls who do….” The reality was that a vast majority of things on these two lists were "good" and were things that many maturing believers really should evidence. However, the problem was that the focus was on the surface behaviors more than on the genuine change of heart and mind that would naturally lead to acting in such ways.

The lists did include some things that were more cultural than Biblical and unfortunately they really didn't get to the heart of the matter, which is the change of worldview that is essential for genuine transformation to take place. Our desire should be to see people living their lives out of a genuinely Biblical worldview so that the values and virtues of the Kingdom of God are the natural expression of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in everyday life. 

As I look back on with the advantage of over 30 years of full time ministry experience, I am afraid that it often became more about behavior modification than the actual renewing of heart and mind that the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans 12:1&2. I saw this lead to situations where someone could attend every church service, Bible study and prayer meeting in a given week, yet be a tyrant in the secrecy of his home and a lazy or dishonest employee at work. The “disconnect” in all of this is striking and breaks my heart.  In addition, it misleads both the person claiming to be following Jesus and those around him/her watching how they live toward a false understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

I agree with Dr. Paul Hiebert in his book "Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change" when he shares the fact that we cannot be content with seeing people simply moving toward right behavior and right beliefs as the essence of determining whether genuine transformation has taken place. We must see a transformation of worldview take place so that the way people look at the world around them and live their lives reflects the heart and character of God along with the virtues and values of His Kingdom that we find in the scriptures.