EXTREME Makeover: Spiritual Edition

Makeover shows, we love them.  They allow us to see the worst turn into the best! 

We are often introduced to a man or woman who is struggling with their self image.  Life has affected their appearance, whether it is due to sickness, bullying, depression, weight issues or loss of loved ones.  The process is different depending on the show, but some shows simply fix the obvious.  They dress you better, change your hair and make you up.  Then REVEAL time!  The contestant is paraded in front of a group of family and/or audience members with a before picture in plain sight. 

BAM! what a makeover!  Weight loss, teeth fixed, hair done, clothes that fit and tears of joy.  We love our make over shows!  I have always felt there was something redemptive about the end result. 

  

  

One day I watch a show that had the same basic format.  It was not just a makeover show, but an EXTREME MAKEOVER show.  The idea was to spend months helping a person with their mindset and their looks.  It involved counseling, dental work, a nose job, surgery to remove excess skin after weight loss and much more.  They talked about their hurts and things that caused a downward spiral in their life.  The ideas was to broadly improve the life of the contestant  as oppose to a minor quick fix.   At the end of the show, they did the parade, but it was different.  It was for their family and friends who had cheered them on, some who may have been part of the hurt and some who were just happy to see them get help.  Such an emotional debut.  There was not a dry eye in the house. 

As I was looking through the crowd of happy supporters, I couldn't help but notice the person's children.  This made me think....

WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?

The children were smiling and happy for their parent, they grinned with tears falling from their eyes.   I watched both of  the two week episodes so I happened to see and hear the dilemma this individual  had experienced since childhood concerning their nose and how it looked.   They had features that they didn't like and a nose job was one of the things they had done to change their look. They chiseled and changed the nose, chin and other things around the face that they always disliked about themselves.  When I saw the children in the audience, it dawned on me.... THOSE KIDS HAVE THE SAME NOSE AND CHIN!

No matter how much  they changed, their children had not.  Any children they have in the future will be born with the parent's original facial features, not the newly acquired ones.  Regardless of the outward changes that were made, no biological changes were made.  Unless we have changed on the inside... we will always reproduce after who we REALLY ARE.  Those children were born based on what the parent really looked like, and their grandchildren will be the same.  Regardless to the outward changes that were made, it did not change and will not change how we reproduce.

  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Psalms 51:5

THE SPIRITUAL EDITION

The bible reminds us that we are born in sin and basically shaped in iniquity.  Which means that the features that we pass on to our kids are formed at birth.  Our natural features like our nose, ears, chin line.. basically how we look,  does not just adjust later, we are born with these features. Those are the characteristics that show up when we reproduce.

Being BORN AGAIN gives us an opportunity to take on characteristics of a Holy God that we pass on when we win others to Christ.  When we reproduce. 

We are called by God to reproduce.  We are called to evangelize and make disciples.  That is all part of the great commission.   If we only change what people see or hear from us, ... it does no one any good.   Unless we really give God our lives and are born again, we will always reproduce after who we are. 

CHANGE FROM THE INSIDE OUT

A bitter angry believer who refuses to forgive or treat others right, is like a person who has changed their clothes and make up, they want to be better but have not given themselves to what really needs to change. When you go to reach out to others, the real you will show up.  You will not only draw those that look like you, but you will also draw those that act like you.  As born again believers should want God to change us from the inside out.  We should long for His hear and His ways, so when we reach out to others, we inevitably point them to HIM.  In turn we help others to seek after His image, not ours.  

In the same sense, sometimes we are moved by what we see on the outside.  We assume that if someone does not LOOK the part, there is something missing.  But when a heart is changed and a born again person yields to God, they can reproduce after God's image.  They can pray for others and change happens.  They can reach others and they feel the presence of God.  The same with a person of obvious talent.  You may be able to sing till the ceiling cracks,  that is wonderful and cannot be ignored, but never forget only the anointing destroys yokes.

So  looking good, going to church, being nice, doing random acts of kindness, praying for people at work or wherever opportunity presents itself ... is good.  But if you REALLY want an EXTREME MAKEOVER that produces after God.  Bottom Line:  we have to allow Him to change us from the inside out.