Have you ever seen those ads for diet pills and miracle products that "burn fat while you sleep" and such? I always look at the "before" and "after" pictures. They crack me up. Sometimes, it doesn't even look like they took a picture of the same person! I think those ads are highly suspicious. However, if you have ever watched television shows like "The Biggest Loser" (Come on, admit you watch it, while you sit on the couch and eat chips. I know you do! LOL!). Anyway, when you see shows like the Biggest Loser or Extreme Makeover, the "before" and "after" pictures are really dramatic. Sometimes it really doesn't look like the same person. However, you know it is the same person, because you saw the whole transformation take place on the show. The changes are so drastic that you would have never guessed it was the same person in both photos if you had not watched the entire program.
Romans 12:2 is my favorite Bible verse. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will."
I am on a journey towards change. I have a desire to be transformed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In order to do that, I have had to change my old ways of thinking and old habits...I have had to renew my mind. I don't want to look the same or be the same. I ran into someone recently who said "If you keep losing weight, I'm not going to recognize you any more!" I said, "Good, that's the whole idea!" I want people to forget what the old me was like. I want to focus on the new me.
If you've ever lost weight or made an improvement to your physical appearance, I'm sure you have had people give you genuine compliments as well as back-handed compliments like, "Wow. You sure look better than you used to, I bet it cost a lot of money to get those teeth of yours fixed" or "You really have lost a lot of weight. You used to be huge!" Those are back-handed compliments because people can't celebrate the change you have made without commenting on how bad you used to be.
I'm sure you have old friends from high school or from your past that have really changed. I don't mean they're fat and bald (though I'm sure you have some of those, too!) I mean that they have turned their life around. They used to be a "party-er" or heavy drinker or drug user. Now they are a preacher or a Sunday School teacher. They are talking about Jesus and the Bible and you're thinking "Well I used to know them back when..".or "they didn't talk about Jesus when they were..."
Just like the back-handed compliments regarding physical changes, we can often be guilty of having the wrong attitude towards someone's spiritual change. However, if you think about it...its the change that catches your attention. If you ran into "Miss Goody Two Shoes" from high school and she was talking about Jesus, would that really surprise you or make you sit up and take notice? Perhaps not. But when you hear that the bully that used to beat you up or the guy that used to stay drunk every weekend is now preaching the gospel...that gets your attention. Please don't misunderstand me. "Miss Goody Two Shoes" needs Jesus as much as anybody. Our "goodness" does not save us or get us to heaven. I'm saying that when the change is that drastic, its an attention getter. It lets you know that the change is for real. Its not about their goodness..its about what God has done for them and how He changed their life.
God uses people and their circumstances...their past, their faults, their weaknesses, all of it. He doesn't choose to use a person and then find out three weeks later, "Wow! I didn't know she was like that. If I known she was that crazy, I would have chosen someone else to write that blog!" God uses us in spite of our weaknesses. Don't think that your past or your mistakes or previous sins will ever keep you from being able to do something for God! If you have asked for forgiveness, God has forgotten every sin you ever committed!
Isaiah 43:25 says "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins."
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:old things are passed away; behold all things are become new" 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Sometimes, the most effective witness for God is someone who used to be really, really, bad! When you see someone who has really changed for God, don't talk about how bad they used to be...just say, "Wow, look what God had done!" Seeing the change in others should encourage us that the change we want to see in ourselves or in our loved ones can happen. God is no respecter of persons. What He did for one person, he can do for you or your son or daughter or spouse or parents or whoever in your life you are praying for.
I was talking to one of my children about one of our relatives that we are praying for to be saved. I said, "You have to believe that God is going to do it. Can you picture what they would be like if they were saved, can you see them saved in your mind? My child was like "No, Mama, I really can't see it...I just can't see it." So, we had to have a conversation about faith and change. I had examples that I could tell them of people that used to be a certain way before they were saved and how they have changed since Jesus changed them. Those examples were a testimony of what God had done and what He still will do.
Embrace your testimony! Everybody already knows you're not perfect. Don't let shame or regret keep you from doing something God has called you to do. We think that people will only remember what we used to be or how we used to act and that somehow God can't use us because of it. Maybe God wants to use you because of how you used to be or because of how you used to act! If you have been forgiven, it's over! If you are still dealing with an issue in your life, confess it and ask others to pray for you. James 5:16 says, "Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another, that ye may be healed".
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9
"Come now and let us reason together, says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)
"For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:11-12)
Micah 7:19 says, "He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
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