Transformation efforts.

There is no more critical issue in our transformation efforts than one
obvious: What exactly is wrong? What’s going on inside us? What leads us to depression, fear, sexual perversion, hostility, and a host of other problems that plague us? Is it perhaps in the depths of our treacherous, hidden in the depths of our hearts that even a sincere commitment to following Christ and a determination to live as we ought? Do most counseling efforts address some fundamental issue essential to inner transformation, necessary for inner transformation?
The problems are everywhere: my parent without a partner who is trying to be a mother and a father, there’s the wife who’s hopelessly in a relationship with a weak man as a woman, some men struggle with them often the overwhelming urge to engage with pornographic literature, and adolescent young people who are depressed by feelings of defiance towards their parents they love. Sometimes human suffering seems too much. Any of us would tell a story. When I reach my limit, when nothing can surprise me, a friend confides in me his burden, the existence of which I had no idea existed, and my numb complacency dissolves in a desperate cry for God to do something more than what I think he does.

Perhaps my point of view is a bit tainted by my vocation, in which I interact daily with people affected by cancer, so I completely forget that some people are also healthy. But when I have the opportunity to talk intimately with my “healthy” friends, I usually find that either their lives aren’t as balanced as they seem, or the appearance of contentment is maintained at the expense of their depth of self-awareness and relationships with others. Christians must remember that we live in a sinful world. This truth has a profoundly significant impact. Everything is true, to a certain to some degree, wrong. We should therefore assume that an honest look at our lives and the lives of others will reveal serious problems. Our response to them need not be a disgusting retreat, a cynical disinterest, or a tendency to pursue our comfort superficially.
We must not resign ourselves to defeatism and live out our days in the gloom. Nor is the solution to retreat to arrogantly elitist conversations with other enlightened ones who are elevated above trying to set things right. It helps just as little to escape the painful reality of watching television, working all sorts of jobs, cultivating friendships, and pleasant religion. We are called to enter the disturbing facts of our own lives and the lives of our neighbors with life-changing truthfulness. But therein lies the rub. The truth we embrace and the principles we uphold don’t seem to change many people. They may keep us going, but not with the bottomless vitality that would attract others. Can we reorganize ourselves and perform with composure as people who live for God, yet we know that something in us is entirely different from what the Bible says. Something is missing. Something is not correct, and we know it. Just like a patient who carefully observes the doctor’s orders and yet still feels the same pain, we fear (and rightfully so) that there’s some other serious problem that the prescribed medication isn’t working for.

If looking inward will yield any results, we must begin by accurately defining the underlying problem that requires change. What is it? The dirt inside the bowls and plates must be uncovered and removed? Our nature? Lack of self-control? Traumatic childhood memories? Insincerity in surrender? Inner insecurity? Mental illness? An unmanageable temperament? Self-regret? Ignorance of the Bible? Laziness? Negativity? Stubborn sinfulness? Lack of meaning in life? What do we have to deal with if we want to change substantially and gradually until we die? What is the problem that requires correction to bring about inner transformation? When we identify our situation, then and only then – we can deeply appreciate its solution. The more deeply we understand, the uglier the ugliness of sin, the more beautiful the cross of Christ will be to us.