Transformation Part 3
“The word transform comes from the Greek word metanoia from which we get the word metamorphose like a caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly…” — Rick Cox
The transformation from a crawling caterpillar to a butterfly only comes as a result of that caterpillar going through the metamorphosis necessary for it to change from that which crawls to that which flies. The renewing of your mind or way of thinking is the same. There is a process you need to work on and work out that will help you become or morph into that which God believes you to be as well as that which He put in you. The issue is you are a free moral agent with the ability to choose what you want. This removes predestination. Thus, you can choose the path to either help you become all you could be in the negative/bad side or all you were meant to be in the positive or good side.
Remember, Solomon said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Are we thinking like a loser or like a winner? Are we thinking we can’t or are we thinking we can? What we think is what we become. In the Bible, God has said plenty to and about us that is positive and optimistic. As a matter of fact, in just three examples God said:
Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the thoughts and plans I have for you and they are not to harm, but prosper and benefit you. They are to give you a hope as well as a greatexpected end to your future.” God said in Romans 8:28, “For all things will work out to your expected end of good.”
He also said in Psalms 103:5, “I will satisfy your desires and fill your mouth and life with good things, which will renew and supercharge your youth like the eagle.” When you think like this, when you are confessing this of yourself and your future, when you believe this to be a matter of fact in your life, then you will have what it is God has said for and about you. You must believe it in your heart. It must be a reality to you. It must become that on which you think and meditate all day long.
You are truly a product of your thinking and thus when you think you can’t, you can’t, but when you think you can, you can. It’s all a matter of what you think you can’t or can do. What you think you can’t or can accomplish. What you think you can’t or can become. All you need is in you, but you, like the butterfly, must work to get out of that cocoon where you are still bound. In other words, you must work to change that negative way of thinking. You must work to being an optimist that believes all will work to your good. This will get that which is in you out to the outside so you can enjoy that which you were meant to enjoy and get on with the life God has put in you.
Countless entrepreneurs have started out on their path to success only to have given up just prior to achieving great success. On the other hand, there are those few that continued to believe they would eventually succeed, so they did not quit. The result of this belief is they were able to make their dreams come true. They did like Ralph Waldo Emerson said to do in his Essay on Compensation: Make life pay you what you want.
Mr. Emerson’s Essay on Compensation was a take on Galatians 6:7-8, which says: Be not deceived whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. It is a true statement that we do reap what we sow. We will have that which we plant. If we plant bad seed on poor soil then little to nothing good will be the result. If we plant bad seed on good soil even then the good soil can’t overcome the bad seed. If we plant good seed on poor soil there will be at least some harvest, but if we plant good seed on fertile soil than we will get a bountiful harvest for our efforts.
Either way, there will be a harvest. Several of those harvests may not be what you had in mind, but none the less, it will be what you deserve. It was Jim Rohn that said, “Life responds to deserve and not to need.” You might need more money than you are paid. But you will not get that until you are worth more than you are paid so your company can make a profit on you. You might need a better car, but without the money to get it you won’t get it just because you need it. You might need a bigger house, but you won’t get it just because you need it. You need to be deserving of more money in order to pay for the needed car and house.
You might need better health, but you won’t get it just because you need it. None of this will happen just because you need it. It could however, happen because you deserve it. If you want better health then you need to learn to live a disciplined life that makes time for exercise as well as eating the right kinds of foods and only enough to live on, but not engorge.
Going back to Emerson, he based his Essay on Compensation on Galatians 6:7-8. Again, this meant we reap what we sow. This goes for our thoughts and actions. You can’t think one way and act another. You can’t act one way and think another and expect what you were thinking or acting to come to pass. Your thinking and your actions must be aligned. They must have the same expectations and seek the same results.
Too many people believe we are destined to be what we are destined to be and that is it. This is simply not true. We all fight the negative voices telling us we can’t or are not good enough. We all fight those pessimistic feelings and times of depression when the battles we face are long and arduous. Yes, these voices and times of depression can and have been lessened in some due to their positive and supportive upbringing, but often regardless of the upbringing, there are many that still face their own insecurities and poor self-image. They struggle with decisions as well as fears about their future and how they look to those around them. They wonder if those that appear to be doing better were destined to do better and rationalize that is the case, which gives them an excuse as to why things are not working out in their lives.
This is no way to live. No one is destined for failure and no one is destined for success. We are all free moral agents with the ability to choose what it is we want out of life. As free moral agents, we have the ability to think our way into success. If that is the case then no one is destined to be anything other than what they decide to be. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson that said, “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
What is it you have decided to be? Are you willing to stick to what you want life to pay you regardless of the struggles you may face in making that come to pass?
Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…
Respectfully,
Rick Cox