The Great Gift of Ruin

Ruin is a gift, ruin is the road to transformation- Quote from the movie Eat, Pray, Love

A few months ago, the ladies in the office I work in and I decided to go see the movie Eat, Pray, Love. I had never heard of the book or even the movie, but I went along anyway wanting to spend time with the lovely ladies I work with. The scenery in the movie was amazing. The places Liz (Julia Roberts), the main character, went and the food she ate... I would love to be able to go and do and eat haha! Anyway, the point here is not about me. The movie is basically about Liz discovering happiness and spirituality in Hinduism. Although I do not agree with that, one of the greatest quotes throughout the entire movie was "ruin is a gift, ruin is the road to transformation."
This quote immediately made me think about my relationship with God and how I came into a relationship with Him. In order for me to come to Him, He had to completely break me. He ruined me of myself and brought me begging on my knees to Him for Him. I wanted nothing less than Him. In being broken and ruined II Corinthians 5:17 reminds us, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." To become a new creation it has to be transformed from the old creation. The ruin of ourselves is a gift. It is the greatest gift we could ever receive, it is the gift of salvation. Ruin is not only a gift but it is the road to transformation. John 3:30 says "He must increase, but I must decrease." We have to be constantly seeking Him and Him increasing in us to become more like Him. We cannot just expect to be little Christs (Christians)if we are not spending time with Him, seeking Him out in prayer, and begging Him to make us more like Him. We become like those we spend the most time with/around. So if Jane (random name for this) is spending most of her time praying, fasting, in His word, reading books about His character, etc. then she is going to become more and more like Him. Her lifestyle choices, movies, music, books, and all other entertainment of sorts will reflect her convictions based on His word. His desires will become her deisres. The things that break His heart will begin to break hers. Her life will look radically different than it did before she started spending time getting to know Him.
This brings a whole new light to Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." I am going to skip over a major part (to be writen about later...) to keep going on transformation. The more we are in His word, praying, seeking Him, desiring to glorify Him...the more we are being transformed. Our minds are being shaped into Christ-like thinking and we are being transformed into Christ-like people. We will not reach perfection this side of eternity, however, we should not stop striving for Christ-like perfection. Do not forget that your "ruin is a gift, ruin is the road to transformation." Keep pushing on toward Christ-likeness.

God Bless!!