We Won’t Have Transfiguration Without Transformation

Actions Lead to Results

Most of us are aware of the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration, Luke 9:28-36, where Peter, James and John went up on a mountain with Jesus.  While Jesus was praying the disciples fell asleep. (They seemed to do this often while Jesus was praying.) When they woke up, they saw a transfigured Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. Peter was so enamored by what he witnessed that once again his humanity took over and he blurted out something before thinking.

We are all so much like Peter and the other disciples. We sleep through important things going on around us. We get so worn down with our everyday lives that we miss out on the miracles. Or we open our mouths and say things without thinking through it before we say it.

Most of us have had a mountain top experience. We wish they would last, but they don’t. Life isn’t just the mountain top, it’s also the valleys. We see the transfigured Jesus in His glory and want some of that. The problem is that it’s not that easy.

Being transfigured starts with transformation. The definition of transfiguration, in Dictionary by Farlex, “is a marked change in form or appearance. A change that glorifies or exalts.” Transformation on the other hand is “the act, process or operation of changing”, according to the Meriam-Webster dictionary.

Transformation is something that we can choose to do. Transfiguration is a result of choosing to be transformed.

We need to see Jesus for who he really is and ourselves for who we’re meant to be.