Storytelling is the language of the heart. In our modern culture, movies are the favored form of storytelling. Much of the current movie making is designed as escapist, silly, fun, but on occasion, a film or even a moment in a film touches on an aspect of reality, relationship, or the condition of our heart that is truly remarkable. I have always thought in story form, so these moments have particular power for me. I’d like to share with you a moment that hit me in a unique way. I think it might be important for you, too.
Not a particularly good film, and not one that I would even recommend, but Jeff Goldblum did a remake of The Fly in 1986. The premise is that a scientist is working on a transportation device (think Star Trek and the transporter). This device is designed to disassemble an object or eventually a person at the molecular level, send the information to another pod twenty feet away, and reassemble it all exactly as it was. All tests look positive, and Jeff’s character gets into one of the pods to test it on himself, alone. Unbeknownst to him, a house fly gets into the pod with him. YIKES!! The transport is successful by all standards . . . until he begins to experience unexplained changes. The rest of the film is mostly about goo, slime, and yucky stuff that happens as the DNA of the house fly profoundly alters this poor man. He loses stuff and he gains new stuff. His finger feels funny, so he carelessly pulls out all of his fingernails. A 180-pound house fly doesn’t need fingernails. He eventually can see all around himself with new “house fly eyes.” Very useful though quite unsightly. In the very icky end, he is neither all fly nor all human. He is something altogether different. What could you possibly get from a movie like that??
We are created to be transformed into something we currently are not. This is not a thing many people want to sign up for. However, to become a disciple of Christ, you really are choosing to become a new creature.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
You are not just a taller, smarter you but a new and different thing altogether. This process is amazing as you feel yourself lose stuff and gain new and amazing stuff. For instance, you will begin to lose the burden and fear of past sin along with the accompanying shame. There are moments of epiphany as you discover that a particular verse is more than a poetic phrase but a powerful anti-toxin that will forever alter how you see the world. There are also times of confusion, and, quite honestly, fear as you face the prospect of leaving behind a thing you have loved for years (think porn, power grabbing, control of everything around you) and head into the uncertain territory of surrender and even choosing weakness so that God will show His strength to rescue you and others.
While in this process, you will feel much like poor Jeff Goldblum as you start to reject things that previously had great power over you. You will feel like your Spiritual DNA is changing. Mr. Goldblum was terrified because he didn’t know what was happening or how far it would go. For example, Spider-Man did pretty well by encountering a radiated spider; Jeff did not fare quite so well. The Fly is categorized as science fiction/horror because it ends so badly. It got out of control, but what if your transformation does not get out of control? What if your spiritual DNA changes are being managed and controlled by the Holy Spirit? This is a process that will not go out of control. It is a process that will result in you becoming more like Christ! This is not a thing to be resisted and delayed. This is the very purpose for which we were created.
Never, NEVER try to transport your DNA from one pod to another!! By all means, surrender to God and His Holy Spirit to be changed, even profoundly altered, to become a totally new creature who has a new spirit, new goals and new power (from the Holy Spirit) to do God’s will. God can actually trust this new creature to use His power and access the storerooms of Heaven for resources, because this new creature has come to want what God wants—yet another amazing transformation that occurred in the process! It is worth anything you might leave behind. I promise. Choose to be transformed.
