Perfect in God’s eyes

We have spent the last few weeks talking about the life of king Saul. I think now would be a good time to switch it up and look at the other Saul also known as the Apostle Paul. King Saul teaches us what an untransformed mind will look like. He shows us what it leads to, rebellion. The Apostle Paul also started as a Saul. He was sincere but sincerely wrong. He was killing Christians in the name of God. Just because you do something “in the name of God” does not mean it has God’s tick of approval. Whether or not God approves of something is dependent on whether or not we are acting within His will. 

Romans 12:2 says, “Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.”

For us to be able to make the transformation from Saul to Paul, we have to remain teachable at every stage of life. We will never “arrive” in our Christian journey. No-one knows everything there is to know about God. What we know about God is framed by our experiences and what we have been exposed to whether through studying or interaction with other people. 

God is not done with you yet. Like He is not done with me. I like to see new challenges as the beginning of something new. The beginning of something good, and also the beginning of a new lesson. I find I learn more in adversity than I do in happy times. You may be different. But in happy times, I can be so distracted by the goodness of God I forget how present and how caring and how close He really is. In adversity or on hard days, His nearness is so evident and His voice is clear and His Presence is so tangible. He is close. 

Transformation of our minds allows us to look for God in those moments. It allows us to discern God in those times and to know exactly what we need to do when we need to do it. It doesn’t mean we know it all, it just means we know we need God and we lean on Him more. We lean on Him for wisdom. We are eager to obey Him because we know His heart towards us. 

If Saul had not let God transform his mind he would have never become the Apostle Paul. Transformation of our minds is no small or trivial thing. It is important. It unlocks the God potential within us. It frees us from bondage and helps us grab hold of the freedom Jesus has for us. It helps us discern God’s will for our lives. 

Inward transformation is a work of the Holy Spirit. We can’t transform ourselves, we can’t change ourselves. We can’t be better or do better without the Holy Spirit. We need Him. He is fully God and He is here to help us. If we are going to avoid making the mistakes that king Saul made we need to allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in us. A transformative work, a supernatural work. We are transformed from the inside out, not from the outside in. 

Our soul needs transformation. If you are honest with yourself you know your soul needs Jesus! If we allow the Holy Spirit to do a transformative work in us, we will find ourselves making better decisions than king Saul. We will find ourselves being transformed from Saul to Paul, with our soul taking its place as a servant and our spirit as king within us. 

Inward transformation leads to a beautiful life which is satisfying and perfect in God’s eyes. 

Love and blessings, 

Melissa Tsingano.