Transform the Word

Have you ever met someone who seems absolutely on fire for God? They speak all the right words, live out all the right actions, and quote Scripture as effortlessly as breathing. It’s as if the Word of God is woven into the very fabric of their speech. But then, when the lights dim and the “audience” is gone—when they’re no longer surrounded by fellow believers—something shifts. That same person begins to sound and act nothing like the one you saw at church. In fact, if an unbeliever were to meet them outside the church context, they might never guess that person claimed Christ at all.

Sadly, this kind of spiritual “double life” is not uncommon. In Christian circles, it’s far too easy to perform—to show up, smile, serve, sing, teach, even lead—without truly living the faith we profess when no one’s watching. To the church, such individuals appear faithful and passionate, but outside that setting, their life tells a different story.

Recently, while working with a local theatre company on a production, God used the rehearsal process to open my eyes to a deeper truth. As I observed the actors practicing their roles, something clicked. Each actor had been assigned a character. They studied the script, rehearsed their lines, and practiced every movement, expression, and tone to convince the audience they were that character. And they were good at it—so good, in fact, that you could momentarily forget who they really were.

But once rehearsal ended or they stepped off stage, they returned to themselves. Their posture shifted, their speech changed, and they slipped out of the character like a costume. They became, once again, who they truly are.

And that’s when the Holy Spirit spoke to me.

How many of us are simply acting in our walk with Christ? Memorizing the right lines—Scriptures, Christian phrases, church talk—playing the part convincingly, but only while “on stage” at church or around other believers? Have we taken on our faith as a role we perform, rather than a transformation we live?

The truth is, God never intended for our relationship with Him to be a part we play. He’s not casting us in a show where we perform Christianity in front of others. He desires transformation—a real, lasting, internal change that flows outward and becomes our true identity, not just our church persona.

When we allow God to truly transform us from the inside out, we don’t just know the lines—we live them. We don’t need to “get into character” when we walk through church doors. The Spirit of God becomes so real in us that His character becomes ours. His love, His grace, His truth—it all flows from us naturally, without a script.

The Bible speaks directly to this in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

This verse makes it clear—we’re not just adjusting our costume or switching roles. When we come to Christ, we are made new. The old character—the one we used to play—is gone. God doesn’t just hand us a new script; He rewrites our entire identity. We’re no longer performers trying to look the part—we become children of God, called to walk in truth whether the spotlight is on us or not.

So the question we must each ask ourselves is this:
Are we acting like Christians, or are we becoming Christlike?

One is temporary, performative, and exhausting. The other is transformative, authentic, and eternal.

Let’s stop treating our faith like a stage performance and start living as the new creations we were made to be