It’s more than putting lipstick on a pig …

Popular “sayings” become popular because they can help us understand a point more clearly.

Take, for example, the saying, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”

Just putting some lipstick on a pig doesn’t make it prettier, cleaner, or anything other than the pig it is. This saying is applied to various problems and troubles people face to highlight the fact that just attempting to alter the outer image of something — especially ourselves — doesn’t result in any real, internal transformation.

I think this old saying has some value regarding how some people try to become “Christians” from their own efforts. Many people place their focus on behavioral changes, thinking they can modify their behavior so that they become a Christian.

According to Jesus, it doesn’t work that way!

Our problem isn’t just that we sin, but it’s our very nature to sin!

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned,” Romans 5:12.

“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil — the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else,” Ephesians 2:1-3.

King David referred to the problem of our inclination to sin this way …

“For I was born a sinner — yes, from the moment my mother conceived me,” Psalm 51:5.

To gain a better understanding of such a condition, Paul Flannery shares the following story …

During our seminary years in Dallas, roaches invaded every apartment in which we lived. Occasionally one of the big black “B-52’s” would scare us to death. But the pesky little brown ones scurried all over the place. After trying many different poisons and sprays I discovered the Roach Motel.

I loved these small cardboard boxes with sticky baited interior walls. They would entice those pesky critters to check in for the night but they could never leave! Every morning I would flick on the kitchen light and at least 10-20 of these germ carriers would scurry for the darkness. But I would get some satisfaction by holding the box up to the light to see the 5-8 new arrivals who would never bother us again.

One morning, I picked up the Motel and thought we only caught one new bug after a whole night of hunting. But then I saw something else – I saw movement all across the floor of the Motel. As I looked closer I saw what seemed like hundreds of tiny baby roaches on their backs, their tiny appendages wiggling in the air. Then I realized what had happened.

Apparantly our new guest was a momma roach about to give birth to her hundreds of offspring. She birthed her babies into death! Like us they were born “dead in trespasses and sins.”

The Bible states in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” The consequence for sin is death.

We are spiritually dead!

You don’t overcome such a condition by striving to modify your behavior, or exerting all of your “will power” to be “good.” For such a serious issue, that’s like putting lipstick on a pig. There’s only one way to overcome sin and spiritual death …

“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God … Jesus replied, ‘I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.'” – John 3:3, 5-6.

You can’t overcome death with a stick of lipstick. In order to have life, we must be reborn, a spiritual rebirth through Jesus Christ …

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 2:4-6.

Are you still spiritually dead? Or have you surrendered your life in a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ so that through Him you can be born again?

Scotty