For the past 20 years or more, we have been fascinated with “before” and “after” results. Reality shows have been the craze, and their focus is usually a before and after theme. In one television show, families are kidnapped from their homes and taken on some wonderful vacation while the transformation is taking place. Another craze using this idea is personal makeovers. Some are done in a few hours, changing their wardrobes, hairstyle, and make-up. Another show pulls a person from their family for weeks and helps them to physically change by exercise and diet. The success of all these programs depends on the amount of change that takes place. The only way to measure their success is to have a list or picture of what they were like before the transformation, and compare it with what they look like afterward. In our lives, we should experience a lot of “before and after” changes as a Christian.
Paul gives us a small peak as to what he was like before he met Christ on the road to Damascus. Before he met Christ, Paul identifies himself as a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent (I Timothy 1:13). The blasphemy he was guilty of was speaking evil against Christ, which he did out of ignorance. He was not against God, and the laws the Jewish people were taught to follow. He was just the opposite. He kept them all. He did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah, therefore he saw those who taught and believed that Christ was the Messiah as a threat to the Jewish church. In Acts 9:1-2, Paul asked for permission to go to Damascus, to persecute, bind, and bring back to Jerusalem those who were part of the Way. The Way is a reference to Jesus. In John 14:6, Jesus refers to himself as the Way. All throughout scripture, He is the only way to God.
I Timothy 1:13 “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”
Act 9:1-2 “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Before meeting Christ, Paul was an enemy of Jesus Christ, yet he was held in high esteem in Jerusalem by the Jews and those who respected the Jewish faith. After his conversion, he was totally different. He spent the rest of his life telling others of Christ and teaching them what God required of them as a believer.
When a person becomes a believer, the Bible makes it clear that there will be a difference. Not that we should be, but we will be. Many people make a profession but never have possession. They may have felt bad for what they have done to Christ, but they have not truly repented. They have not turned away from their old life. This is not something we can do on our own. We can’t just “turn over a new leaf.” The change that takes place, will take place because God changes our heart of stone to a heart of flesh. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us at the moment of conversion. The Holy Spirit will guide us to the truth. He will convict us when we sin, and through God’s word, He will teach us.
II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new.
Ezekiel 36:26 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
If we are truly saved there will be a complete make-over. After salvation, we will continue to change to be more like Christ until the day we die. However, you can be like those of some of those television shows, they are willing to change some things, but not all things. They may have experts in the field of nutrition to teach them how to properly change their weight, but if they are not submissive and obedient, they will not succeed. Our spiritual lives are no different. Only through our desire to be like Jesus, and our gratitude for what He has done for us, will we be able to become that new creature.
So, where are you today? Have you been transformed into the new you, from sinner to saint? If you have been saved, are you using the tools God has given you, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to direct you, the Bible to study to know him more, or prayer to speak to Him directly? Are you developing the fruit of the Spirit that dwells within each believer? What’s your before and after? Sit down today and make some notes of things that you will do to help you be all God wants you to be in the coming year. Check your list often, repent where you have failed, and start again. With the help of the Holy Spirit, His Word, and prayer you can make changes that last forever.
Galatians 5:22-24 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
