A few years ago, makeover shows were all the rage. They would find someone who seemed plain and unattractive and give them a makeover. They would keep their family members in the dark until the makeover was complete and then the reveal would come. Even the person getting the makeover couldn’t see themselves until they were done. I often wondered how they maintained this new look after they went back to their old lifestyle. As Christians, we get a makeover but ours continues. With the power of the Holy Spirit, we get better and better until we see Jesus one day. Ours comes with a guarantee and a promise. We go from the old person to the new person instantly at our salvation, but through sanctification, we continue to progress. We can look back and see where we were and then look at where we are to evaluate our progress on the new us.
In Ephesians chapter 2 we see that we were dead to God in our sins but He at our salvation “quickened” us which means He made us alive in Him. The old us lived our lives according to the design of this world. This world’s design is to do whatever pleases the flesh. It is not concerned about eternity or about pleasing others unless it is beneficial for us. Many people who do not know Christ do great charitable deeds and seem to be good upstanding citizens but they like the accolades and feeling it gives them. Even their giving and serving others is for their own gratification. We were children of disobedience to God. In our original state, we could not please Him no matter what we did. God gave Isiah the words to describe our works before we are in Christ. In Isaiah 64:6 the prophet wrote, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags.” Apart from the righteousness of Jesus applied to our lives, nothing we can do is acceptable.
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”
Who we were was a hopeless situation to be in but thank God His great love made a way for us to have a complete makeover that would satisfy His requirements for eternal life. He extended His mercy to us while we were dead in our sins, and we were His enemy. It is through His grace that we can be right with Him. Grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. All that we can have in Jesus is because of His grace. Our salvation is all of God, there is no work that we can do to gain salvation. It is a gift and if you work for it, you deserve it, and it is not a gift. I will never forget the day I explained this to a lady in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was a faithful member of a church that taught her that her works would save her. They taught her that Jesus would offer her eternal life, but that He was not enough, she must have works added to her faith. In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul makes it crystal clear that our works do not save us. She commented that I was doing works by coming to her door to tell her about Jesus, and she was correct, but I explained I was working from my faith, not for my faith. A heart of gratitude will cause us to be as James stated in as James 2:17-18 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” If you have experienced the grace of God saving your soul, you can’t help but want to work for Him. However, make no mistake, it is not your works that gain you entrance into Heaven.
Ephesians 2:4-9 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
It is Christ who makes us a new person. It is Christ that continues to work in us and change us to be like Him. Romans 8:28-29 teaches us that it is God who is always working in our lives for our good. In verse 29 we see what that good is in our lives. God is conforming us to the image of His dear Son. Our makeover has a great beginning and an even better ending as we enter Heaven in our glorified body given by God.
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
