From Life Experience to Life Change
“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person: the old life is gone,” (2 Cor 5:17 NLT)
In The Metamorphyx Journey: Part I, I promised to “deconstruct” the Metamorphyx road map and go deeper into the content of the model. Ready?
Some readers of Metamorphyx: Embracing Life Experience, Life Change, and Life Purpose tell me I set them up for an ambush. “Why such emphasis on Embracing life experience and life change?” Great question!
Life Experience encompasses all aspects and chapters of daily living . . . from the rearview mirror of adolescence, high school and college, though the 
delights of family growth and exciting career challenges. But Life Experience also incorporates the hazards and trials that challenge our personal and family survival . . . life and death issues like breast cancer, struggles with a permanent disability, betrayal by a friend or marriage partner, and the finality of a divorce or a funeral.
Embracing Life Experience often boils down to a single critical premise. Do I truly believe that I am Living Under God’s Sovereignty? In life application terms that means a God who ultimately has a unique plan and purpose for my life before I was even conceived! And if so, then I must embrace (accept, support, adopt, grab onto, hug) life’s opportunities . . . but also persevere in painful setbacks on the journey of life.
The alternative is to believe that God is engaged in a cosmic battle to maintain his grip on the world he created . . . a world in which human evil crushes God’s Sovereignty . . . and a world where William Henley’s philosophy of life prevails, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” (Invictus, 1875). Yikes! I sure hope not!
Who is ultimately in control is a critical distinction in one’s view of Life Experience. God’s Sovereignty is an uncompromising binary proposition, much like a traditional light switch. It’s either ON . . . or it’s OFF! No, there’s no half-ON position or a sovereignty “dimmer switch.” God is either completely in control and sovereign . . . or he is not. Rejecting God’s sovereignty also invites us to reject pivotal teachings of the Bible . . . God’s Inspired Word to men and women in biblical history.
The first to go overboard must be God himself and his creation account in Genesis. Then the prophets go next, though they speak clearly of Jesus, the Messiah. John the Baptist also gets shoved overboard, despite recognizing Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,“ (John 1:29). Then of course, there’s Jesus himself who in God’s Sovereignty sets all crooked things straight, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33). Here, Jesus is our sovereign hope-giver and truth-teller. Yes, the world is corrupt, but Christ-followers know, this is not our future home!
Romans 8:28 also brings sovereign wisdom and encouragement in hard times, “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” For if all things do not work together for eternal good–then we are, in fact, the captain of our souls–and we should scurry to get a copy of Invictus!
Let’s apply this thinking to The Metamorphyx Journey for a moment, and the compelling progression from God’s sovereignty in Life Experience to our human responsibility for Life Change. Our mind is a marvelously malleable component of our human design—it’s the control center for spiritual and behavioral life change. As God’s handiwork, we are uniquely fashioned to Live as a Life Learner . . . to seek wisdom and greater knowledge of our planet, our God, and our life purpose. The apostle Paul sums it up nicely with a clear mandate for life change, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” (Romans 12:2).
Here’s a great truth of The Metamorphyx Journey: you and I are capable of becoming something tomorrow that today we’re not! We possess a God-enabled capacity to grow in our faith, love better, mold our character, become more compassionate and generous . . . to forgive, give thanks, confess our mistakes, demonstrate humility, exhibit patience . . . and to glorify God. These attributes are ALL on the Life Change pathway of life.
Who guides us in this life change process? None other than Jesus himself, who counsels us, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,” (Matt 11:29). Who doesn’t need rest for our souls!?
But why the Red Caution Arrow from Life Experience to Life Change in the Metamorphyx graphic?
Only this. A hasty “rush” to Life Change can be catastrophic without the wisdom of Life Purpose Contemplation. Not all life change is grounded in biblical wisdom! Seeds of victimhood, retaliation, and bitterness can easily sprout when harsh lessons are not bathed in prayer and discernment.
Stay tuned. That’s the starting point of The Metamorphyx Journey—Part III.
On the pathway . . . in the process,
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