Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.     Romans 12:2 HCSB

In this letter to the Romans, Paul is explaining what it should be like when we experience true salvation. True salvation leaves us wanting to be the best we can be for our Lord and Savior. It leaves us wanting to change the way we think, speak, and act.

This is what we are referring to when we talk about being transformed or the transformation that results from salvation. Paul also wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away and look new things have come.’

Many people claim to be saved, they walk the aisle making a public profession of faith, they get baptized, but they don’t change their ways. They may add church into their weekly schedule, but they don’t change the way they think. They speak just as they did before. And they act just as they did before.

This is because often people get caught up in the emotion of a church camp or a revival or a really good sermon. They aren’t truly saved, they are simply going with what others are doing. I recall a pastor doing a revival at our church several years back who said this same thing. He talked about how as a youth he went to church camp. He saw all his friends “being saved” and he also made a public profession of faith and was baptized. But he admitted that at this point, he wasn’t truly saved. He was simply going through the motions.

He said it would be about five years later before he would truly get saved and that this salvation would change everything about his life.

Many of us are resistant to change. We may be afraid that we will lose some friends and I have to warn you that you might. We may be afraid that our family members will treat us differently and this is certainly a possibility.

I can tell you however, that while I lost just a few friends, along with a few family members, I gained a whole church family. I have family members who love the Lord as I do and still maintain a close relationship with them. I have friends that also have come to love the Lord as I have and I have close relationships with them.

I haven’t lost anything that God didn’t replace. I guess you could say that for everything I lost, God gave me so much more. This isn’t to say that I don’t miss these family members, but I have to trust in God in that situation. I have to pray for them and for reconciliation and pray that God knows what is best in this situation.

If you ever walked the aisle and made that public profession of faith and was baptized, ask yourself if you were truly saved? Did it bring about change in your life? If it did, have you become backslidden? Don’t be ashamed to admit it if you did because I can assure you it happens to the best of us.

If you claim to be saved, are you changed? It’s that simple. Or do you still say and do all the things you said and did before as if nothing ever happened? If this is the case, turn to the Lord. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). Surrender your life to Him, present yourself as a living sacrifice and I can assure you, He will transform you.

Don’t be afraid to change because I can tell you from experience that the change will do you good.

Have a great day!