To kick it off, here is a song about Extreme Make-Over: Spiritual Edition! (Yes, I am cheesy, but I make you laugh!) Make-Overs are all about taking something that is out-of-date, run down, broken, inadequate, dysfunctional, or all of the above and changing it into something totally different, improved, better! That's what this song-- and this blog post-- is all about.
2 Corinthians 5:17 is a popular memory verse for small children-- for us children of the 90's, it had a slightly obnoxious song to go with it, but it tells us: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" When Samuel anointed Saul as king, he told him that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon him and change him into a different person (1 Samuel 10:6). The same thing happens to us when we are saved: the Holy Spirit comes into our lives (John 7:38-39, Acts 2:38). The Spirit is what comforts us when we are hurting, what guides us when we are confused, what convicts us when we stray, what refreshes us when we are weary. But not only do we have this friend and counselor to help us out with this great journey of life, we have this very Presence of God living in our hearts... That in and of itself is enough to transform anybody!
But this identity comes with a challenge. This transformation happens inside our hearts, and we are given the power and the help and everything we need to live out this transformation on the outside, but so often we fight it so hard for a myriad of reasons: we're afraid of what people will think, we're afraid of giving up pieces of our old life, we think that if we're going to try at all we have to get it perfect or else there's no point, and let's just face it, it's tough! But Romans 12:2 tells us to "not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." We have to stop letting the influences of the external forces of this world trump the power of God that is in us that transformed us the very moment we chose to believe!
In the book The Search for Significance by Robert S. McGee, he uses the illustration of a trapeze artist. As they move from one bar to the next, they have to let go of the old bar. That's what we have to do in order to "put off our old selves" and become our "new selves, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness," (Ephesians 4:22-24). We have to make that choice: Are we going to live the life that we had before Christ transformed us? Or are we going to let the power of the Holy Spirit seep through the seems of our souls until His colors bleed through the surface for the rest of the world to see?
Beside 2 Corinthians 5:17 in my little blue Bible, I have written a quote from a sermon long ago: "The butterfly is not content to crawl along the ground." That's all the caterpillar can do, but once that creature breaks free from the cocoon as a new creation with big, beautiful wings, nothing can keep him from flying, because that's what butterflies do. As Christians who have been transformed by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we shouldn't be content to crawl on the ground. We should rise up to this challenge to live a life reflecting the miraculous transformation that we have undergone!
We are no longer the people that we were before Christ saved us. Past mistakes, fears, and weaknesses do not define us, and we have the power within us to conquer those things from our old selves. Will you unlock the doors of your heart and let the Lord and Savior of the universe make you into a person who reflects this change that He has done in you?
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