Say Yes to Change—an Ode to Photo-oxidation

Needing to water a newly acquired houseplant, i went in search of my old watering can. Nestled in the sill of the utility room, where it had sat forgotten for upwards of four years, I blinked in pleasant surprise. The plastic had been transformed by the sun. Instead of sporting a cheap, green color, it now displayed a more appealing shade of blue. What had happened? The sun happened.

Without any effort on its part, the cheap looking watering can had been changed into something with a more elegant appearance. In its previous, not-so-pretty life it still held water. It still did its work well. But now, in addition to being useful, it was also beautiful, easier on the eyes. All thanks to the sun's rays. All thanks to the light.

Imagine that. My humble little watering can, a picture of God's will for His children.

Romans 8:28 says, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Theological controversies regarding foreknowledge and predestination aside, it's easy to see that this verse tells us that God has intended for each of His adopted children to be changed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Interestingly enough, Jesus said of Himself, "I am the light of the world (think, SUN): he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

When the sun's rays work their magic on a plastic item, like on my watering can, it breaks down the chemical bonds in the dyes and pigments used to color plastics. The plastic breakdown, called photo-oxidation, transforms the color of the object in question. In similar fashion, we, God's children, are transformed when we allow ourselves to be touched by the rays of light from God's Son, the catalyst that causes the influence of the world to be "photo-oxidized" away.

It's easy to see how to put a physical object in the direct path of the sun's rays, but how do we subject ourselves to the more ethereal spiritual rays? Obviously, sitting on a windowsill like my little watering can won't cut it for getting God's son-rays!

Surprisingly enough, the solution is almost as easy. John 1:1-5 tells us, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness ..."  Jesus, the Light of the world, is also the Word of God. To be transformed by the Light, all we need to do is expose ourselves to that Light, that Light found in the Word of God. So my grandmother was right: read the Bible!

A few decades ago, when "casting out demons" was all the rage in many charismatic circles, believers were told that any sin they had ever partaken of had caused them to be inhabited by an evil spirit. They could not be truly free from that sin and become Christ-like unless that evil spirit was cast out of them. Young as I was, I questioned the belief. If that were true, why did I see so many changed saints who had experienced beautiful transformation from merely reading God's Word? Thankfully, the excesses of those days are behind us and the reality of what causes true transformation is upon us: subjection to God's Word.

Many are the stories of unbelievers who begin to read God's Word on a crusade to prove its fallibility, only to find themselves transformed by the power of God. God's word is "like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces" (Jeremiah 23:29). It enters our soul and chips away at our worldly desires, our worldly way of thinking, and makes us more like Him.

So join me in picking up that sublime heavenly instrument, that treasure that holds the Light of God, the Bible, and letting it "photo-oxidate" all our worldly ways away.

"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" (Romans 12:2).

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Sprit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).