Driving naked with God®
Transformation
By Greg Costa
Seeing is believing — and blessed are those who believe without seeing.
But so many are blinded by the details they choose to cling to.
We say we believe in transformation — yet do we really know what that means?
A man from the streets can shave, put on a suit, and suddenly look like a million bucks.
But has he been transformed?
Or just covered up?
We confuse appearance for redemption.
But transformation — true transformation — happens deep inside,
where no mirror can reach.
Judgment and Integrity
Around us fly human buzzards —
quick to drop accusations,
quick to wound,
quick to feed on someone else’s pain.
They carry the disease of judgment.
And yet, we are all children of God.
Still, some walk as if they are greater than others —
leaders, keepers of truth,
self-appointed saints.
I know this world.
My entire life has been a judgment — not by God, but by man.
By what I do and what I cannot do.
By what I say and what I choose to hold in silence.
So I ask — can a group of men,
truly hold onto integrity?
Can we teach each other to grow,
to see that no scar is greater than another?
That no title, no paycheck, no platform
can measure the heart of a man who still kneels before God?
The Blood of Transformation
Life is a balance of victories and failures —
and the greatest checkmark of all
is honesty.
For Christ bled — truly bled —
for the honesty of our salvation.
Every lash, every nail, every piece of flesh torn away
was transformation in its purest form.
Jesus turned thirty and stepped into His calling.
He didn’t lead from comfort — He led from sacrifice.
He broke bread and said, “Take this, all of you, and eat it.
Do this in remembrance of Me.”
Transformation is remembering.
It is re-membering — putting back together what the world has torn apart.
Churches, Titles, and Truth
We build church after church,
each with its own title, style, and agenda.
But Jesus said to the woman at the well:
“The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the Father.
The true worshippers shall worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
Meaning — the true church is not built with hands.
It’s not an institution.
It’s a heart surrendered to God.
A cross can save — or it can be twisted,
as Hitler did when he forged it into a symbol of hate.
So we must ask:
Are we following the church of men,
or the church of Christ within us?
Transparency and Togetherness
Transformation begins when we can sit together —
as men, as brothers —
and speak the truth of our lives,
The darkest and most detested parts are included.
But too often someone will say,
“Don’t tell anyone else that.”
And with that one phrase,
truth dies in silence.
We can’t heal what we hide.
Transformation dies when fear of judgment
outweighs the power of confession.
The Inside Work
Transformation is not about behavior.
It’s not a performance.
It’s an organic change that begins inside the soul.
God’s life, moving within us,
changing us from the inside out.
The Apostle Paul wrote:
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”
(2 Corinthians 3:18)
When we behold the Lord,
He infuses us with His very essence.
Like sunlight soaking into the skin,
His Spirit soaks into our spirit.
We are changed not by effort,
but by surrender.
My Own Transformation
I know this transformation because I’ve lived it.
I’ve faced death and come back to life.
I’ve walked through loss, pain, and the invisible battles of a traumatic brain injury —
a silent epidemic the world doesn’t see.
I lost my service dog, Grace —
my companion, my gift from the Holy Spirit —
in a moment of impact I’ll never forget.
That night, the world stood still.
But even in that unbearable grief,
God showed me He was not done with me.
Every day since, I’ve carried the armor of God.
Not because I am strong —
but because I am still here.
Still standing.
Still learning how to serve.
I’ve seen darkness and light,
I’ve been humbled, stripped, and rebuilt.
And yet, every day, God reminds me through pain and mercy
that transformation is not an event.
It’s a daily dying —
and a daily resurrection.
Integrity Revisited
Integrity —
the quality of being honest,
having strong moral principles,
and walking uprightly even when no one sees.
That is the mark of Christ.
And that mark — invisible to most —
is burned into my life through suffering, loss, and rebirth.
Final Reflection
So, brothers —
what is your transformation?
What truth hides beneath your silence?
What are you still afraid to confess?
God’s transformation is not about fixing yourself —
it’s about allowing His life to work through you,
to remove the old,
to build the new,
to bring you from glory to glory.
And when you let Him,
you’ll find that your scars —
every one of them —
become holy marks
of the man you were always meant to be.
