Has someone ever told you, “Your outfit is very becoming”? It’s more than just a pretty article of clothing; they’re complimenting how it looks on you. How often have you walked into the dressing room at your favorite clothing store with your arms full, praying for something, anything, that looks good on you? We all have seen clothes with a trendy look, and we want to try them or pretty prints or colors that catch our eye, but when we try them on and look in the mirror, they’re just not right. Oh, the disappointment! Sometimes, it seems nearly impossible to find something flattering to my particular body shape or that fits like it was made especially for me.
Another meaning of the word “becoming” is changing into another form or to begin to be. My question for you today is, “What are you becoming?” II Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) states, “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This verse always makes me think of the metamorphosis a humble caterpillar undergoes to become a beautiful butterfly. What a drastic change! Who could ever imagine that the one has any relation to the other? I won’t try explaining all the steps once the caterpillar is encased in the chrysalis. But during that time, most of its body tissue is broken down. Then, it is renewed, regenerated, and transformed into its final glorious form.
Romans 12:1-2 (NLT) declares,
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
You might be more familiar with the King James Version of the Bible, which states in Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Let’s compare the difference between being conformed and being transformed. Both involve change. Both require submission. And both rely on an external standard of measurement. Conforming means to press in from the outside, while transforming means changing from the inside out.
When we conform to the world, we allow it to change us. The world becomes our standard—whether through friends, family, social media, television, or other influences. It molds us, demanding our submission.
Do we dress, speak, spend, work, and enjoy life like the world? If someone observed our daily lives, would we blend in completely, or would they see a clear difference? Whose standards guide our lives?
When we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, Jesus Christ changes us completely from the inside out! It is a metamorphosis. Caterpillar to butterfly. The caterpillar looks nothing like a butterfly, it is a total transformation. The old has passed away, everything is entirely new! But it takes our complete submission to His holy process. A complete breaking down of our old way of being. We must be changed by the WORD not the WORLD. The renewing of our mind happens through the Word and through the Holy Spirit. II Corinthians 3:18 tells us we are being transformed into His image from glory to glory, by His Spirit!
It’s a process, and sometimes a painful one. But we are being perfected and changed into His likeness. Philippians 1:6 (AMP) proclaims, “ I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].”
It’s time to look again in the mirror and decide, who are YOU becoming?