A Changed Life

Before and after photos can be fake or fascinating. An internet search shows everything from make-up transformations to jaw surgery, no hair compared to hair transplants, obesity to slim and trim, crooked teeth to perfect white teeth. Most photos are about human appearance and made me wonder what the changes did for the person who had been transformed. Did it make them kinder? More gracious? In many cases, confidence in themselves might change, but an outward change does not mean a new person, only a new look.

This was not true for Saul of Tarsus. He was a Jew who said, “I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:4–6)

Scripture does not describe his appearance, but a clear before and after. In his zeal for God, he “was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” (Acts 8:3) Then one day . . .  

While still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, he 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. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” (Acts 9:1–6)

The NT goes on to describe a changed man. After Jesus encountered him, instead of persecuting Christians, he preached Christ, edified his new family, and said:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death . . . . (Philippians 3:7–11)

He still looked the same, yet he was a new person. He wrote:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17–21)

And he told Christians, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11)

Their before didn’t matter; their lives were changed. He knew that God can transform anyone, even those deep in sin, and make them new, even treating them just as if they had never sinned.

He changed my life and now I pray with hope for others who seem without interest in Jesus, or are in cults, or who have lost their way in a sinful life. He turned Saul around; He turned me around; He can turn anyone around and bring them to Himself.

PRAY: Lord Jesus, You know those on my heart who seem hopelessly beyond reach, yet You also know how to draw them to Yourself. My faith is in Your grace and power, not in their character or lack of it. Nothing and no heart is too hard for You to soften. I’m so thankful for new life in Christ and that I know I am a child of God, no matter what I once was or did. Wonderful Jesus, wonderful Savior!

READ Luke 19:1–10. How did the crowd react when Jesus went to Zaccheus’ house? What prompted Jesus to say that salvation had come to Zaccheus?

 

 

No debt to pay

I use a popular software to keep track of my income and spending. Without an accountant’s mind, this helps me with accuracy and the simple reality that if spending exceeds income, the numbers turn red.

The New Testament uses accounting language in a few places. For instance, I’m to consider myself dead to sin and alive to God. That means putting my old life in the debit column and my new life in the credit column. These two verses hint at the same idea:

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:22–23)

However, the way we keep track of money is not quite the same. It only gives a visual picture of what is gone and what is now ours. Tozer puts it this way: Counting is not the language of poetry or sentiment but of cold, unerring calculation. It adds up the columns thus: sorrow, temptation, difficulty, opposition, depression, desertion, danger, discouragement . . . but at the bottom of the column God’s presence, God’s will, God’s joy, God’s promise, God’s recompense.

A sinful life fills the death column. The gift of God fills the life column. Yet as Tozer says, no Christian can boast about what they gave up to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Anything I had, or was, or possessed is nothing compared to what the Lord has called me to, has gifted me in the column called life.

Some Christians have trouble speaking of their old life, as if they have lost or forsaken a good thing for a better thing. How can that be? How can we not realize the wonder of salvation, the wonder of knowing Almighty God and walking with Him? How can anything be compared to fellowship with Him and His family? I would be a fool to lament the loss of all things to gain Christ. Paul wrote the same idea:

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:4–11)

Paul went from a life of religious zeal to living in the power of Christ. For those who God calls, this reality is mind-blowing, an adventure beyond human imagination. Even without a calling like Paul’s, the humblest believer enjoys the blessings of grace, forgiveness and peace that cannot be compared with the best that this world has to offer.

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I am so thankful for my salvation, for the wonder of those assets You have written into my ‘credit’ column, and the grace for those debits You have cleared from my record. I owe God nothing for You have paid it all. Considering anything as loss is in reality a bill no longer outstanding. You have paid all my debts and I have been set free.