More Than Meets The Eye

More Than Meets The Eye

Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:16

THE TRANSFORMERS MOVIE SERIES begins with high-school junior Sam Witwicky about to purchase his first car. He goes down to a used-car lot and buys a beat-up, canary-yellow Camaro. The odd thing is that the car seems to have a mind of its own. It will change radio stations or even just drive away independently.

Sam’s car isn’t the only machine taking action. A helicopter attacks US soldiers in Qatar by turning itself into a vicious robot. A boom box hacks into top-secret government files.

What is going on?

It turns out that they are “Transformers,”^a which are actually robots in disguise. There are good Transformers called the Autobots and evil Transformers called Decepticons.

Both groups are searching for the Allspark, a cube that is their life source and that grants total power to anyone who possesses it. It turns out the Allspark was stashed on Earth years before. Sam’s great-grandfather found it on an Arctic expedition, and it’s been handed down to Sam, who has no idea what it is. But now he’s dragged into this battle, which is really a race to save the planet. Most of the Earth is caught up in the middle of this war, even if they don’t understand it. Slowly Sam begins to understand what’s going on, and it gives him a chance to be a hero, to be a part of saving the planet and humanity.

Decepticons

I believe the Earth is a battlefield between good and evil.

I’m not talking about people.

I mean it’s a battlefield between good and evil forces we don’t fully understand and can’t see.

The battle is over a sort of Allspark, the life source. I believe there is an otherworldly source of life available. His name is Jesus. A relationship with Jesus is the spark that gives true life.

The good side is trying to help the people of Earth recover this “Allspark.” The evil side is trying to steal it away. Jesus said, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”^b

The way the evil side tries to steal the life source away is through deception. The apostle Paul wrote to some Christians, “I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.”^c The danger is that people will be deceived, which can happen because the evil side is all about deception.

There are all kinds of deceptions that can keep people from the life source, like “Jesus was just a good guy” and “You don’t need a Savior” and “Don’t give your life to God; he’ll take all the fun out of it.”

And if people are deceived, they miss out on life.

More Than Meets the Eye

The problem is that people have been deceived. They’ve bought into the lies. The role of the church is to help people to overcome the deceptions of the evil side so they can find the life source.

How?

Transformation.

We can tell people all day what the truth is, but most of the time most people aren’t going to listen. They can argue with our truth, or just ignore it.

What will really get their attention is transformation. When they see a person change before their eyes, it’s just undeniable. When we connect with Jesus, he gives us incredible power. That power allows us to change. We join in the battle and become part of saving the world.

Once Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth.^d Skeptical people started denying the miracle, arguing that the man who could see couldn’t be the same guy who was blind. The religious leaders were called in and realized Jesus did do a miracle. They felt their authority was being threatened by Jesus’ increasing popularity, so they decided to drum up an accusation against Jesus. They argued that doing a miracle isn’t appropriate on the Sabbath. They claimed that since Jesus wasn’t resting on the Sabbath, he was a sinner. The guy who had just been healed was asked to give his opinion and said, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”^e

How can you argue with that?

You can’t.

When Jesus transforms a person’s life, it’s undeniable. People can try to come up with some other explanation for the change they’re seeing, but they start to realize it’s just true.

So we need to be changed. It’s part of how we save the world.

How?

I wonder if you have the feeling that you can’t change. A lot of people do.

Our past seems to prove it. We tried to lose weight, but the diet and workout plan got pushed aside after a while. We sought to manage our anger, but the breathing techniques turned into hyperventilating. We tried to be a better husband or wife or employee or son or daughter, but it seems like no matter what we have tried, it hasn’t quite worked.

Why couldn’t you experience lasting, significant change in the past?

My guess is that you focused on yourself, on what you could do through your power to change yourself. And my guess is that you focused on externals, on changing your behaviors.

You did it backward. But moving forward can be different, because it’s going to be the opposite of what you did in the past.

It’s not going to be you transforming you; it’s going to be God. God is capable of doing anything, including changing you.

God’s plan for transforming you doesn’t focus on externals; it’s about internals. God’s not going to change you from the outside in, but from the inside out. That’s the only way real, lasting transformation happens.

God can change you, and he wants to. He wants to because, although he loves you just as you are, he loves you too much to leave you that way. He wants you to become your best you. And not just for you. He wants others to see you change and to be drawn to him by it.

Your part in this process is to let him change you. To open yourself up to his transforming work in your life. More than just being open to it, you need to seek it. To invite God to come into your life and do what he needs to do to help you become the you he means for you to be.

The church is a community of people where the one constant is change. Where love is the atmosphere we live in, but we love each other too much to allow each other to stay the same. So we graciously encourage each other to be open to God’s work in our lives. And a watching world sees the transformation and is drawn in by it.

Now What?

• Read 1 Peter 4:1-6.
• What changes have occurred in your life and character since you started following Jesus? Have other people noticed the changes? How has this impacted them?
• Pray again today for growing a godly character. Where is your character most in need of transformation? Pray for discernment with that. And pray that God will give you the desire to spend so much quality time with him that his character will rub off on yours.