Makeover

I heard a story about a man who came to the big city and saw an elevator for the first time. As he stood there watching, an elderly woman got on and pushed a button. A little later, an attractive young woman got off the elevator and left the building. He excitedly said to his son standing next to him, “Run get your mother and bring her here. I can’t wait to see what she comes out looking like.”

Ephesians 4
²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

As Paul continues his letter to the church at Ephesus, he contrasts the life of the believer and the nonbeliever. He cautions against allowing the lifestyles of those who do not claim Christ to become part of the Christian’s way of life. Earlier in this chapter he tells us that we must not be just like everyone else. Our new life must show that we are not confused by the wiles of Satan that draw us away from God. We must bring light into a dark world, exposing those things that the devil uses to pull us down for what they are – lies from the mouth of the father of lies.

This passage is a call to all believers to dare to be different. God says through Paul that we have been given a spiritual makeover. We are a new person, closer to the likeness of our Father than we have ever been, because we have invited His Son into our hearts. When God looks at us, He sees Jesus – righteous, holy, and true. That is a miraculous transformation. Our filthy rags have become a cloak of righteousness, our evil hearts have become holy temples, and our lying lips now speak the truth of the Word of God. What a change!

There is also a word of warning in this passage. Notice that the Scripture says that we must be “displaying a new nature.” If we are not vigilant in our walk with Jesus, our old sinful nature will fight its way back to the surface. The natural man has not been removed from us, just covered with the new nature of Christ. In and of ourselves, we do not have the strength to resist the old man. We have to be constantly aware of its presence in us, and allow the Holy Spirit to keep it at bay.

Unfortunately for the old man in the story, his perception of the function of the elevator was mistaken. No matter how many times the door closed with his wife inside, she would be the same when she stepped off as when she stepped in. He was working off of a case of mistaken identity. Christians have been through the real deal. We have within us the nature of Christ and if we allow it to be the one that is displayed to those around us, they will see the same kind of change in us that the old man thought he had seen in the elderly woman.

Can you imagine what would happen if every born again Christian started displaying the new nature that they received at the time of salvation? For one thing, the lost world would be amazed at the difference, and that amazement would rapidly turn into curiosity. As we began explaining the transformation, we would be reaching one more for Jesus!

We serve an awesome God!!!!!