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A
New Person
The
program committee for a national barber's convention
devised a graphic means of demonstrating the
effectiveness of their profession.
They
found a social derelict on skid row with long, dirty
hair. His face was unshaven and his clothes were
ragged and filthy. His body reeked with odors of cheap
liquor and filth.
The
barbers cleaned him up. They gave him a bath, shampoo,
shave, haircut and manicure. They liberally sprinkled
talcum powder on him and added spicy cologne. He was
dressed in a new suit and was presented before the
convention as a changed man. He certainly looked
the part.
However,
within a week the man was back on skid row, back in
the gutter, back in his former pattern of living. The
barbers had altered his appearance, but their
tonsorial services had not changed him on the inside.*
Due
to our sin, each of us is on “skid row,” destined
to die (Romans 6:23).
But God loves us so much that He gave His only
Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16)
so that we might have forgiveness, transformation,
and the
hope of eternal life (Ephesians 1:7; 2
Corinthians 5:17; Titus 3:7).
“Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old
things have passed away; behold, all things have
become new.” –
2 Corinthians 5:17
The
change that Christ desires to bring about in our lives
is not superficial.
Rather, we are transformed by Christ from the
inside out!
Our HEARTS
are changed by faith, placing our trust in
Jesus (Acts 16:30-31).
Our PRACTICES
are changed when we turn from sin in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), committing ourselves to the intention
of refraining from sin.
Our COMMITMENTS
are changed when we confess that Jesus is the
Son of God and the Lord of our lives (Romans 10:9-10).
Our CONDITION
is changed when we are baptized (immersed) into
Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).
The
Apostle Paul explained the change that occurs
in the penitent believer when he is baptized into
Christ:
“Or
do you not know that as many of us as were baptized
into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into
death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life.” – Romans 6:3-4
Anyone
who has the money to spend can put a man in a new
suit, but only Christ can put a new
man in the suit.
Won’t
YOU
allow Christ to change you from the inside out as you
trust and obey Him?
David
A. Sargent, Minister
Church
of Christ at Creekwood
1901
Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
For
information on ministries collecting funds to help in Haiti, click this
link: http://www.christianchronicle.org/article2158985
*
From the Illustrations file of www.thecorner-stone.org
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