11/12/2025
Has Jesus changed our lives? Has He altered the very core of who we once were, or do we put Him on like a change of clothes each day to cover up the nakedness of the sin that still exists as we strive for righteousness? We often portray ourselves as being one way publicly, and then retreat into a private world that is quite different... which of these is who we actually are? Are there things we hide beneath a shiny veneer of paper thin faith as we live out both our spiritual and physical lives?
“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 KJV
Most Politicians show us one side of themselves. They are masters at telling us what we want to hear while holding their honest opinions and selves close to their chests. If they said what they truly believed, even if it was what the great majority of us believed in as well, they might never get elected. Swe tend to do this too. We don’t cast our vote based on who we are... we vote who we wish we were. Every day we live a life of speeding on the interstate, or not buckling our seatbelt, and yet we vote for the candidate who will pass laws requiring us to obey the speed limit and buckle up.
The same is true of our faith. We go to church and portray ourselves as righteous and then leave for home to live an entirely different life. We want to believe we are something we are not. We can be obese and yet readily call gluttony one of the seven deadly sins. We want that new car so bad that we are willing to go deep into debt for it but count lust as another of those basic sins. So, who are we really? Do we even know? Are we actually both?
Jesus doesn’t want us to act like a Christian, He wants us to live, breath, feel, speak, and think as one. He wants us to change our lives at their very core and make ourselves into more than the superficial image of God; He wants us to become close enough to His likeness and character that we can be in Him, and He in us comfortably, and completely. But to do this we have to drop the pretense. We need to stop fooling ourselves about our righteousness and allow Him to nearly demolish the worldly house we live in so that it can be totally renovated.
My son and his wife bought my mother and father-in-law’s house after they passed away. It was built in the very early 1950s, and had small closets, out-of-date bathrooms, and what once was a modern kitchen but now looked totally out of date. They could have put some fresh paint on it and just lived there, but to make it into a modern home they did major renovation work on the house. Walls were torn down bathrooms removed and redone, and a new master bedroom put in; along with big closets, and a new master bath. The kitchen was also redone and outfitted with modern appliances and new sinks. It was painful and expensive, but in the end it suited their needs more perfectly.
This is what Jesus intends for us. He isn’t satisfied with putting a little paint on our old selves... No, he wants new men and women who have all the amenities that we see in Him.
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 KJV
Our outward selves might be nice to look at, but it’s what’s on the inside that is all important. God doesn’t want us to just show Him a reflection of Himself; He wants us to be as He is to our very heart and soul. He wants us to be eternally changed, and this requires a total remodel and in some cases it means tearing down the old house completely and beginning fresh. Are you willing to sign a contract with Jesus the builder of abundant lives?
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10 KJV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the notice of condemnation you nailed on the front door of my old life. I thank you for leading me to Jesus Christ who then fixed and rebuilt the mess I had made of myself and where I lived. Holy Father you have made provision for me, and although the cost might be painful and stretch me at times, in the end you show me the glorious new temple I have become, and forgive all my sin debt in the process. Your Son has paid the price Father, and I thank Him for His redemption, and your grace which flows over me through Him. Have mercy on me Father as I seek to become the person you would have me be. Change the physical man to be righteous, and my spirit to be obedient to you; sanctify me.
Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who loves me so deeply that you sent your only begotten Son to redeem me from my sin with His life. Holy are you who pours out grace from within Him, the perfect vessel, and I thank you for washing me clean, both body and spirit, with His purifying blood. For my redemption and the reconstruction of my life I praise your name and give you all the glory and honor for the righteous new man I am becoming day by day.
“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
1 Timothy 6:11-12 ESV
“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
2 Timothy 2:22 ESV
Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Hallelujah… Amen!
Rich Forbes