Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The movie Pinocchio is truly a classic and a wonderful story. I find myself fascinated by the transformation that this puppet goes through. In the story Geppetto is a wood carver who creates a magnificent wooden puppet that he names Pinocchio. He then wishes upon a star that Pinocchio would become a real boy. His wish is partly granted in that Pinocchio becomes alive but has to prove himself honest, fair and true in order to become a real boy.
This living puppet goes through adventures with Jiminy, his little cricket friend who is his conscience. He faces and succumbs to temptation but in the end he is transformed into the real boy that Geppetto wanted. Pinocchio is no longer a living wooden boy, but a real boy with flesh and blood.
On a simple level yet profound level, this story presents a helpful perspective of our walk in Christ. Before we come to Christ, we are like the wooden puppet. Then when we are born again, we become living sons and daughters but we have much to learn. For the sake of illustration, we become like Pinocchio, the living, wooden puppet. There is still much change that must occur in us.
We are…and we get to become. Make that, we must become. While we are truly sons and daughters of God when we are born again, there is a life-long transformation process that we must embrace in order to be transformed into the men and women God wants us to be. Our lives – behavior, thoughts, attitudes, words, relationships – all have a lot of wooden edges that He wants us to be free of.
This process involves us no longer conforming to the pattern of the world, but conforming to God’s word and ways. We must make the choices that enable us to become like Jesus. Through this process the life-long transformation is accomplished. The wooden edges are replaced by the real.
