Haven’t Changed a Bit!
- Mary A. Felkins
- May 18, 2018
- 2 min read
As the body ages, I fight to slow the speed and deterioration wherever possible. Regular exercise, nourishing foods, good skin care. A daily dose of gratitude.
I recently posted a picture on Instagram of my wedding portrait. Complete with all the pouf of a 1990 wedding gown and big hair.
In response to the image, one precious lady commented:
You haven’t changed a bit.
Hair color and a fair amount of foundation fools the eye, but, still… I love to hear that.
I’m guessing maybe you do, too.
With all the effort to appear younger and fight the signs of age, receiving a ‘You haven’t changed a bit’ is nice every once in a while.
Unless it arrives via a holy whisper, the voice of God Almighty…
“You haven’t changed a bit.”
Then I’ve got a problem.
For the Lord to tell me I haven’t changed a bit is light years from a compliment.
Yes, I am a new creation, not just a patched up version of the old me. Having been cleansed by the blood of Christ, I am brand new.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.
The old has gone, the new is here!
II Corinthians 5:17
But still, the Old Self still takes center stage and distracts me from donning the New Self.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24
In this sanctification journey with Jesus I don’t want the Spirit to give testimony to God the Father,
“She hasn’t changed a bit”
~Still prone to whine.
~Still drawn to overindulge.
~Still apathetic toward the suffering.
You get the idea.
Now, no matter what ‘sanctification score’ I might assign myself on any given day I know the Lord loves and delights in me. As a mom of four, I know this love. Over the course of 24 years, there’s been no shortage of wondering why certain habits and attitudes and behaviors have yet to change in my children, but my love for each of them does not falter.
As a child of God I don’t want to hear Him declare, “You haven’t changed a bit.”
Rather, “You look nothing like you used to when I reached down and saved you from that pit. The Spirit looks absolutely Divine on you.”
Now that’s a compliment worth tucking close to my heart. And one I want to hear over and over and over.
How about you? Have you changed a bit?
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