"Christianity Is Transformation"

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17 

Religion deals with changes on the outside. Religious people clean up their act, turn over a new leaf, start trying to be good and do better. True Christianity involves change from the inside out. The acts, deeds and goodness that we do starts on the inside and works its way out. It is a result of something that has happened on the inside of a person. 

 

Transformation comes when we are "in Christ". It doesn't come from just knowing "about" Him; or "hearing" about Him; or "believing" He is real. It comes when we are "in" Him and He is "in" us. The word "in" means to be engrafted. When a branch is grafted into a tree, it gets its nutrients and life from the tree. (Cut that branch off and it dies.) Inside the branch is whatever is going into it from the tree. If we are engrafted in Christ we are being transformed because what is in Him is going into us-- love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, etc. This cannot be faked. It can't be copied. It cannot be reproduced outside of being in Christ. 

 

Are you trying to change your own life by doing "good" things? True change can only come through transformation. Transformation can only come through Christ and only then if you are "in" Him. You may say you are "in" Him. You may say you are a Christian. You may say you are a believer. But if you truly are then your life will be transforming to look more like Him because you are engrafted into Him. (There is no true salvation unless there is transformation.)

 

Have a great day. Religion starts on the outside. Christianity starts on the inside. Religion knows about Christ. Christianity means being in Christ. Religion cleans up its act. Christianity is transformation.

 

For further reading:

John 15:1-7

Galatians 5:22,23