Restructured or Transformed?
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” - 1 Corinthians 13:12
A marketing survey in the late 1980s found that Rolls-Royce was the world’s second-most widely recognized brand, trailing only Coca-Cola. It’s still hard for me to hear that name – Rolls-Royce – and not think of the long, shiny cars with the ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ sculpture on the front of the hood.
These days, you (like me) might know the Rolls-Royce name, but do you know what the company actually does? If you do, you might be one up on the folks who run the company!
BMW now owns the rights to the automobile brand, while Rolls-Royce Holdings, plc, owns the original Rolls-Royce business that was established in 1904 (and dates back even further).
The modern version of Rolls-Royce, according to its website, operates in civil aerospace, defence (not defense, because its British and what do they know about English spelling?), and power systems. Civil aerospace, defence, and power systems?? Confused? Well, you’re not alone, because in 2023 the company announced a multi-year “transformation programme” (again with the British spelling!).
I know all of this because that’s just the type of nerd I am. But there’s also a spiritual point to be found somewhere in the journey that led me to this useless knowledge.
A daily email from Fortune magazine’s CEO serves as one source of my useless knowledge, and the other day she had an interview with Rolls-Royce CEO, Tufan Erginbilgiç on the art and science of transformation.
I skimmed it, and was surprised by a line that jumped out at me and stuck in my heart and mind:
“It’s not restructuring I’m after,” Erginbilgiç said. “Transformation is a lot more holistic and ambitious.”
He was talking about the business, but I was thinking about my life as a follower of Jesus, because Jesus isn’t just trying to restructure my life. He wants transformation. Restructuring keeps the old, moving it around and re-using the old to improve the current man. God can definitely restructure us, but He wants transformation for our Spirit, not just a restructure. Transformation reaches deep into the core of a man, changing him at his core. It’s a change that seeps into the heart, soaking into the very fabric that makes us who we are. And that’s a lot more holistic and ambitious.
The problem, at least for me, is that I often fight like crazy to hold on to the old me rather than surrendering to God’s sanctification process. The old me is familiar. Comfortable. Lightly challenged. But when I hold on to or slip back into that person, I settle for less than the best, and the best is what God wants for me.
Paul wrote that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old has gone and the new is here. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We’ve been set free from our old, sinful nature, he wrote in another letter, and we should not let ourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)
I have to ask myself: Where am I not surrendered? What parts of my life have only been tweaked, restructured, and not transformed? In what areas am I settling for less than the God who makes the sunrise wants to give me?
Then I remind myself — God’s mercies never cease. Like the sunrise, they are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23) All I have to do is surrender my whole me, to my holy God. Let’s not just restructure, let’s transform. Why not be ambitious?