Makeover

I have a confession to make: I am sort of addicted to those makeover videos where someone is in the hairdresser or stylist’s chair with visible roots, frizzy ends and bad coloring, looking sad, and they pull up the cap and “BAM!” their hair is gorgeous and their makeup is perfect. Total makeover in seconds – although I am sure it took hours for the process to work. I mean, it takes four hours for me to get my roots touched up and get a trim.

Our spiritual change will be just like that:

I Corinthians 15:51-52 [NKJV] 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

BAM! No more flesh and blood, but now incorruptible. Just like that.

But, behind the scenes, in the years of our life, there is an important process going on every single day. It doesn’t just take hours, it takes decades.

We are turning from roots of gray and brown and black to perfectly styled blond or red or brown or whatever. Dull, sad eyes now sparkle with joy (and mascara). The chemicals (or spiritual changing process) may be smelly. Our necks may get bruised (or our egos get battered) from bending backwards over the rinsing bowl (or enduring trials and change). Our legs may go numb from sitting so long (or we may get tired of this life and painful process of change). And we may get a bit bored because we feel it is taking too long. [Have I completely lost any men who were reading?]

The Christian makeover process can be exciting in a good way or a bad way. It is often painful and smelly. Definitely not pretty at times with all those foils in your hair - I mean life-changing trials. Old things need to be stripped out and new things applied.  [See Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9]

But God begins with a vision of who you will be.

Isaiah 46:10 [NKJV] Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times [things] that are not [yet] done…

And along the way He is the stylist with a vision, if I may use that analogy, developing the incorruptible person who will be seen by all in the “big reveal” at the end. He does not randomly start cropping or stripping or styling. He always begins with the end in mind.

These makeover clips would not be fun to watch if everyone had started out looking the same. In the same way, God knows we start in different places and need different processes.

These makeover clips would not be fun to watch if everyone ended up with the same hair cut and style. In the same way, God is styling us for different roles.

These makeovers would not be fun to watch if I had to watch the whole process from consultation, to hair color, to shampoo, and finally styling and makeup. In fact, I won’t even watch the ones that have more conversation/consultation at the beginning. Just lift the cape and show me the new!

Isaiah 46:10 [NKJV] Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times [things] that are not [yet] done…

Sometimes I feel that way about my own process of change. I get impatient with how long it takes me. I don’t want to deal with this toxic world or my own roots of sin. I just want to jump to the end when I am who God envisioned me to be when I first came to Him for that makeover. I wonder, “Why is this taking so long??!!!” But God is patient. He knows what He is doing. He has the end in mind.

Okay, the bible talks about God being the Potter and us the clay. [Isaiah 64:8] Same type of analogy. But I don’t know anyone who makes their own pitchers out of clay. I do know women who go to a stylist regularly to get a cut, color or style (or all three).

Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”

We know God is working with us, preparing, trimming, cutting us toward the big reveal in that day.

Then, BAM, we will be a new creation. Who know that God was the inventor of the dramatic reveal? I can’t wait to see the finished product!

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me now in the chat or any time at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org.