Extreme Makeover

       Earlier during some down time I was watching a few minutes of Extreme Home Makeover, and it got me thinking about another extreme makeover I’ve seen- one far more meaningful than any new house.  It was twenty eight years ago that I accepted the Lord as my Savior and He gave me a new heart and life.  Now, you have to understand… on the outside I looked pretty good, at least by the world’s standards.  I didn’t drink, smoke, do drugs, or get involved in premarital sex; I listened to my parents, helped when I could, did my school work, got decent grades, attended church, treated people the way I wanted to be treated, etc ad nauseam.

       What the outside didn’t show was the sin inside of me.*  It didn’t matter how I appeared on the outside, because on the inside was a black heart that didn’t know the Lord Jesus Christ.  As a result, selfishness, hatred, constant judging, perversity, and all kinds of sin (Matt. 15:19) reigned in my heart.  (Rom. 6:12)  Ah, you say, but that didn’t hurt anyone so what’s the big deal?  Well, it did hurt me and left me in a state of bondage (Rom. 6:6) and led to guilt and shame.  That is no way to live.  It also hurt my Father as my sin created a wall between us** and kept us from having the relationship He wanted to have with me.

       And so my Savior saved, healed, and delivered me in 1983, and thus began my personal extreme makeover. (2 Cor. 5:17)  Immediately I started talking to people more as I had been exceedingly shy.  From that point on until now I have undergone tremendous changes in my heart, my spirit and my soul.  Jesus didn’t just save me, but He continues to change me and will perfect it until the day He returns. (Php. 1:6)  Who I am today is nowhere near the person I was back then, and I can honestly say I like me better now.  I love this life and I can live it without the bondage of sin, guilt and shame- all because of the blood of Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:19-21 6:6,17,18)  He gives me abundant life.  (John 10:10)

       Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)  Ah… to be made new- not just fixed up, resurfaced, patched, flaws covered up, or recondition, but to be ‘brand spankin new’.  This is one extreme makeover I’m thankful for. 

      

*for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;  Rom 3:23 

** but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear.  Isa 59:2