Christ and Inner Transformation

Unless intention, thought, and attitude change, passivities and destructive productivities will not change. Transforming this requires a new intellectual fermentation. If our thoughts are dough, then for this dough to rise, Christ must be the yeast of our thoughts (Matthew 13:33).

For a productive, healthy, and peaceful life, one must carefully tend to this yeast within. The path to this lies in developing Christ-consciousness. Without this, it is impossible for hearts to find courage, to unite in hope, faith, and love. True wealth and respect are in Christ; all quests and yearnings find meaning in Him. Negative attitudes, ego, and complexes are only conquered through His teaching. Self-love, self-respect, self-worth, self-confidence, self-control, and a spirit of self-discipline also develop only through His sincere discipline; all human values are thus strengthened. For “in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

Therefore, while flowing through life's complexities, one must never forget the effort to discover this hidden secret and treasure within the depths of the soul. Those servant-hearted people who discover this treasure not only attain peace of heart and depth of life; like a gardener, they also prepare the ground for others to grow and flourish, bringing out their best qualities and enabling them to bear fruit.

For Christ is not merely a master who lived in history. He is unconditional divine love embodied in human form; the light guiding the inner journey, the meaning map of life, the compass on the path opening to eternity. He is the divine call of the Heavenly Word touching humanity. And this call comes not from without, but from within. It is silent yet profound, simple yet transformative. Christ is not only a guide; He is an eternal teaching that resonates within the soul, necessary for every condition and timeless. He is not a map, but the Way itself; He is the very Truth. Not knowledge, but the source of knowledge and the essence of wisdom.

This essence is the living embodiment of universal moral principles that find an echo in the human heart. Christ's call is based on sincerity, faithfulness, responsibility, conscience, inner discipline, and a spirit of self-control. True virtue is built not with external rules but through an inner awakening. Therefore, Christ bases life not on superficial whims but on depth of essence.

The person who turns their back on this truth is doomed to remain in darkness both in this world and in eternity. For to know Christ is not merely to adopt a belief; it is to recognise the divine software installed in one's essence and to begin operating it consciously. Christ is a divine software encoded in the human soul. When this software starts operating, a person does not just know the right, they become right; they do not just learn the good, they are transformed into good. They do not just speak of morality, they become morality itself.

However, this software does not operate on its own; it requires an inner orientation and sincere effort. Like a seed beneath the soil, this essence within us awaits the right ground, light, and water. That light is awareness; that water is love and humility; that ground is sincerity.

Christ's call is not only about eternal life. He calls to endow this world with meaning, balance, and divine peace. If this call finds no echo in a person in this world, it will find no echo in the next. The echo of the hereafter is hidden in the steps taken in this world. True salvation is not a reward postponed for the future; it is an inner transformation established in the present.

The person who heeds this call inevitably feels a thirst on their journey. This thirst makes them aware of a lack and directs them to seek. This seeking is not a desire for ordinary knowledge or success; it is a desire to return to the source, to be completed, and to evolve. For every person is a small reflection of the earth within their inner world. And that world is often under the governance of the ego/self (nefs).

Christ’s words, “Take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), are not merely a declaration of victory; they are a summary of an inner victory won against the desires of the ego/self. Every person is a world; here, “the world” symbolises the ego/self. Without the ego/self, the evolution of the soul is not possible; but an unpurified ego/self does not make room for the soul. The soul ascends through the reining in of the ego/self; understanding opens, the heart expands, the person matures.

In this maturation process, our best companion is our own inadequacy. Our shortcomings lead us to contradictions, questionings, and confrontations. This is why we walk, fall, get up, worship, think, and continue again. But in fact, everything is to quench that thirst, to complete that lack, to return to the essential source and meet with the divine.

Christ's wisdom aims not only for individual salvation but also for societal resurrection. His understanding of governance is not self-serving; He governs with justice, offering compassionate guidance, not despotic rule. The essence of this order is a spirit of virtuous administration. This spirit is the light carried by consciences that do not bend before power, consciousness that shows humility in the face of arrogance, and hearts that develop self-discipline against the desires of the self.

Therefore, Christ rejects practices born of arbitrariness, superficial tendencies, and random choices. His way is based not on temperaments but on the truth within the essence. This truth wants “us to bring light to the darkness of the spirit, balance to the disarray of the heart, and meaning to the contingencies of life.” Christ rejects all arbitrary attitudes shaped by pride and stubbornness. For He is the guide on an inner path of purification, starting from human spiritual darkness and extending to the social order.

Syriac wisdom says: “Those who are blind in this world will also remain in darkness in eternity.” This saying refers not to physical but spiritual blindness. Unless the eye of the heart is opened, Christ's light cannot find reflection in us. Yet Christ came to enlighten every soul. His coming is a development from within outward.

A person moving with this spiritual development becomes more careful, responsible, and conscious in social life as well. For them, thinking with love, walking with compassion, and loving with understanding becomes a way of life. For Christ calls not only to a belief or worship, but to a way of life.

This life includes, alongside worship, awareness, conscience, fidelity, and service. Life is about sharing, remembering, visiting hearts, and increasing the wealth of the heart. Love multiplies, grows, and heals when shared. Christ is born anew within us, transforms us, and becomes light for the world. Then darkness gives way to light.

And then we understand that salvation is not only a spiritual future but a state of consciousness belonging to the present. The Kingdom of God becomes not a place sought outwardly, but a truth established within.

A Syriac maxim says: “Those who know themselves know the Lord. Those who know the Lord become children of light.”

For the children of light, there is darkness neither in this world nor in the next. For Christ is not only a love that gives life; He is a love that gives rebirth. He came to revive the light within us. And when that light is revived, life gains meaning; a person blesses not only the present but also the future.

Those transformed by Christ illuminate both themselves and life.

Yusuf Beğtaş