Change without transformation …

It’s almost window-dressing time!

As 2010 is rapidly winding down, the next few months will bring out a rapid flow of holiday decorations in businesses and public areas. From loud orange for Halloween, to an assortment of Fall decor for Thanksgiving, to reds and greens for Christmas, window decorations and store displays will be changing almost by the week as we near the end of the year.

While there may be a lot of “change” going on, most of it will be only cosmetic in nature. The same businesses will be selling the same products, just with different designs and decorations that tap into holiday themes.

We all routinely experience change throughout life, but often it’s change without transformation. Many simply redecorate the exterior of their lives as they pass through the seasons and experiences of life.

Jesus wants more from our lives than change, He wants our lives to be transformed from the inside out. He addressed this issue of change v. transformation quite straightforwardly in Matthew 23 as He scolds the Pharisees and religious leaders for their cosmetic change:

“25 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:25-28).

Being a follower of Jesus Christ is not a seasonal event with thematic decorations, it’s a complete life-transforming reality. The Apostle Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 5:17 this way: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

Have you allowed Jesus Christ to transform your life, or are you merely changing the decorations? Is the external appearance of your life the reflection of a whole new person in Christ?

Scotty