New Creation

This past Sunday a lady came up to me after church and asked me, "Where was Jed the trumpet player?"

Obviously, I was a little confused... She said "You know, the guy that used to play the trumpet in the band before you."

I realized that she didn't recognize me. I told her, that I was Jed. The look on her face was priceless!!!

She asked me if I was I sick... If something was wrong... Why had I lost so much weight. It was so crazy to me that she had no idea who I was because my physical appearance, in her mind anyway, had changed so much. She was relieved to know that I had not left the church and that I was still playing. She had been worried about me.

I have been thinking about that conversation all week. Not in the light of my physical appearance and weight however, but my spiritual appearance. You see, about 12 years ago I gave my life to Jesus and asked him to change me from the inside out. I knew I was a mess inside and that's where the change needed to start. That said however, I knew that once the inside was all cleaned that it could not help but ooze outward and hopefully people around me would see a difference in my life.

Some days I feel like it is oozing outward a bit more than others, but I know all too many times my "spiritual" appearance goes back to the ugly mess it used to be. 12 years into my journey with Jesus, do I look, act, talk, give, behave, love more like Him?

It's my prayer that I would remind me people of Him so much that they would literally have to ask, who is this person? Is this Jed?

One of the first verses of Scripture I learned as a Christian was 2 Corinthians 5:17...

"Therefore, if any man is in Christ, He is a new creation.
The old has gone, the new has come."

This week as you walk your journey, look to see if your appearance is different. If it is, GREAT!!! If not, the good news is, if you are reading this, it's not too late for a makeover!!!