Total Makeover

Beauty Mountain, Fayette County, WV

"Now, with God's help, I shall become myself."

                                                                                      ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Being a Christian and being discipled should never be a question of whether or not a person is going to do it.  
Discipleship is becoming the man or woman God has intended us to become and it is not a matter of whether it will happen.
Instead, it is a matter of making room in our lives for God so that He can live in us and make us become alive in Him.

As a younger man, I never wanted to 'be' from West Virginia.
All too well I realized the horrid stereotype which surrounds the Mountain State and the people within her borders. 

Montani Semper Liberi

In our politically correct world, it is no longer agreeable to society to make jokes about any group of people in the manner Archie Bunker did weekly on NBC's 'All in the Family;' save two groups of people: Christians and West Virginians.
I fell into both categories.

Even today, occasionally I will hear an outsider or a so-called intellect on television make a remark about Appalachia or West Virginia - their ignorance and intolerance is never condemned.

It took me to learn something that every recovering sinner needs to learn about out spiritual heritage.
While we may wish to be someone else, God does not want to work with a different personality; He chose me and you in whom His Spirit should dwell.
Though we may want to change who we are, God wants you and I; taking us just as we are but loving us too much to leave us that way.

One thing I have learned during my sicknesses is the fact that God wants us to become more ourselves by realizing our real self God originally intended which is now marred by sin.
As I look in the mirror, my torso holds 19 scars from the various surgeries - each shouting a cry from the fall of man so long ago.
God did not create me defective; yet, I am - therefore, the fallen creation and sinfulness of man must have contributed to my condition.

But in life, I have found that many strive to become something they are not; seeking to become people or have talents which they were never intended to have.
Even preachers go through such trials; many in small churches want to become more like Billy Graham - reaching millions with integrity.
But the truth is that in the life to come you and I will not stand before God and be asked why we are not more like Moses.
The Holy Spirit guides us not to be Moses, or David Jeremiah, or Billy Graham or anyone else.

He guides us to become ourselves.

Whether you realize it or not, you and I are special in God's eyes just as ourselves.
I am a flawed man, scarred physically and spiritually from life's battles; yet, I am a flawed man in whom God intentionally chose to dwell.
Knowing this, it causes me to trust God even more and it creates a confidence in Him that grows daily; it is liberating.
And to become whom I was intended to become, we must be liberated from the image of the world which has been imputed on us and not deny the man or woman God has chosen to share His Glory with in eternity.

The Apostle Paul described Christ's relationship with the Church as a mystery.
In my opinion, Paul may have been the greatest Christian who has ever lived; but calling it a mystery tells us that even he had difficulty understanding the intimacy God seeks to have with us by choosing us and giving His Spirit to dwell within us.

In this line of thought, there is a great paradox:
Everything about us screams that we are unworthy; yet, the Apostle John  teaches us that God lavished His great love on us.
So much so, in the life to come, we shall be like Him.
And this tells us that even now, even while we are in Christ and growing in Him, there still remains within us something that is hidden and undeveloped.
All the while, the Holy Spirit continues to work  and reveal it to ourselves and show us the total makeover God is doing with us.

With this in mind, if God loves us, who are we to refuse to love ourselves; while we may be unworthy before Him, He has chosen to make us worthy in Himself.
Accepting God's love means that we must silence the internal voices that say we are not worthy; while those voices may be true according to the world's standard - God has changed everything by liberating us in His Son.

This is truly an amazing thing to grasp; God loves me and desires me to love Him.
Quite possibly, human words will never capture what that truly means outside of the Bible.
Yet, I know without a shadow of doubt that God does love me because He has shown me that love through His grace - and this love and grace tells me exactly who He is.
God loves - it defines His nature as much as His holiness does.

Human beings are worthy because we are loved; when we are loved we experience His grace.
Some things in life are loved because they have a certain value placed upon them; other things are worthy because they are loved.
Supermodels are loved for their beauty; baseball players are loved because of their ability to hit or throw a baseball; scientists are loved because of their experiments and discoveries - but the love each of these experience and enjoy is limited in scope and nature.

In my home, in my children's bedrooms are two Build-a-Bears in camouflage. 
These bears were purchased and  built by a member of my church and given to me to give to

my children just before I deployed. 
To my family, it has been a blessing worth their weight in gold. 

Within the two 'combat bears' is a voice-box which recorded my words to them so that when they missed me, all they needed to do was press a button and they could hear my voice encouraging them that brighter days were ahead when I returned.
Now, these bears have no intrinsic value in and of themselves, but they are greatly loved.
And because they are greatly loved, they have on them a great worth that is irreplaceable. 

Thankfully, God's love is not based on our worth in the eyes of the world.
God's love comes by His grace; in doing so, it imparts to us salvation - a priceless free gift, purchased with blood and available to every man, woman and child on the planet.
Theologically, the Christian is worthy because they are loved - and what greater act can there be on the part of a Christian than the love of God being demonstrated through their life to those who need it most in the world today?

But this takes time, for like watermelons - to get the best ones, you've got to let them grow.

Over the last several months, I've learned a lot about what surgeons do during operations.
In particular, I've researched organ transplants and they are absolutely amazing.
Do you realize that when a patient undergoes an organ transplant, they are given anti-rejection drugs until the new organ is grafted into the patient's body and it becomes a part of them as if it has always been there?

Friend, the Holy Spirit works just like that in the life of a Christian.
It is the Spirit of God which keeps us from throwing of the new nature the Lord has imputed to us.
While the new nature is not a foreign object - it is just restoring us to our intended state - it seems that it is foreign because we have lived so long in this fallen world.
A makeover by God's Spirit, once allowed to take root in our souls, is a fresh breeze of air.

On a parting note, there is a question each Christian should ask themselves daily about God's love within them, about their spiritual progress and about their growth in the Lord.
You see, God has sought each Christian out and chosen them; as such, God's delights in us.
That being true, every day, we should ask ourselves:

                                           Since the Holy Spirit dwells within me, did I 

                                            give Him the opportunity to delight in me

                                            as His child?

The thing that does glorify God in our lives, the one thing that truly signifies to the world that God is at work through us is being the hands, feet and heart of God in this fallen world as the Church and Body of Christ.
When you and I embody the mission of Christ in compassion and love as He has extended to you and I, we become a clear sign pointing to God and His grace and love.

That my friend, that is the real makeover and who you and I were created to be before the beginning of time itself.

Until next time, go win one for the good guys.