Ultimate Extreme Makeover

Have you ever seen that show Ultimate Extreme Makeover? It’s this crazy show where people are whisked away by jet plane to the marvelous world of Hollywood where their lives are forever changed through the wonders of cosmetic surgery. Just like Cinderella, their dreams all come true and they finally obtain the self-confidence that had eluded them.

But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells--even though you still experience all the limitations of sin--you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it--yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

Romans 8:9-14

I was speaking with a co-worker in the hallway the other day about life change. We were discussing someone who had a checkered past who was now active in the ministry. I spoke of the amazing power of God’s grace to turn our lives around. She commented that the only real way to change your life is with Jesus.

Isn’t that true? When we try and go it alone we turn things upside-down. We try to change our lives by changing the outside. We dye our hair, we exercise to loose weight. We cover our problems with new clothes or momentary fixes. We even resort to extremes like liposuction or plastic surgery. There is a twisted belief that if we change our outside, then our inside will change. It is the hope of Cinderella, a hope of fairy godmothers, a hope of plastic Barbie doll fiction.

Happiness isn’t a response to surfaces. Beauty, the kind found in L’Oreal and Cosmopolitan magazine is nothing but light reflecting on surface, it is two-dimensional and it is an illusion.

But there is a kind of life change that can happen on the inside. It is totally different. It is transforming, it is mind altering, planet shaking. It changes the paradigm and destroys the old, beaten-down self and creates a new wonderful person. It doesn’t dress up our sinfulness, our brokenness with pearly white veneers, breast implants or up turned new noses. It renews our spirit and embeds in us the living spirit of the Rising Lord.

If you want a real ultimate extreme makeover, quit looking at the outside. Look deeper. Look within. Change your heart. Shift your focus from your selfish desires, from your mirror’s reflection, and embrace the Lamb of God, the Savior of the World. Change your heart with Jesus Christ.