This morning I happened to see on TV the outward transformation of 3 women pulled from the audience yesterday and given a new haircut, clothes, makeup, etc. Most people like those because the change is dramatic and more often than not gives that person more confidence about how they look.
And yet, that outward transformation did nothing to help them with the issues they are dealing with on an individual basis. No debt was eliminated, no worries were taken away, just given the privilege of looking better.
As believers, at the moment of our salvation, we were given a total transformation: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17). That total transformation, that "new creation", is to result in a changed style of life. No longer are we to be living like we use to be. Verse 15 tells us "that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again" (2 Cor. 5:15).
I can imagine that those 3 ladies spent some time standing in front of a mirror, admiring their "new look." How about you? If you were to look in the mirror, what would you see? Would you see the "old" you; the one who is living for himself? Or would you see that "new creation" who is living for the Lord?
As "new creations in Christ" we realize that any true change happens on the inside and is then outwardly manifested. We can't think that just "acting" the way that God wants us to will result in any true change. We must remember that "man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
The question you have to answer is this: Have you been a recipient of a "total transformation"? If not, it is as easy as acknowledging four truths: (1) All have sinned (Romans 3:23); (2) The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23); (3) Jesus died to pay for your sin (Romans 5:8); and (4) Jesus invites you to be saved today (Romans 10:13).
If you are a recipient of this total transformation then does it show?
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