EXTREME MAKEOVERS
The once popular television series, Extreme Makeovers, held my attention for a while during the eighties. Many of these makeover jobs were performed by``
celebrity plastic surgeon, Dr. Jon Perelman.
Although Dr. Perelman performed several of his skillful makeovers on the show, perhaps the most remarkable was done on Peggy Rowlet, who played detective in the TV series, SCI Miami. His work in Rowlet’s case easily earned the description, extreme, with excellence.
The subjects of Dr. Pereleman’s makeovers, as well as the witnesses of the results were often amazed. As amazing as these makeovers are, they are temporary, incomplete and sometimes defective. Another interesting observation regarding these procedures is that they are purely on the outside and they do nothing to preserve life or enhance the chances of the patient’s longevity.
These extreme makeovers, performed with superior human skill, deserve recognition, even praise. We know, and these talented surgeons will agree, that their work is limited. Many surgeons admit that their role in the healing and change process is limited. Many years ago, in Buffalo New York, I met a surgical radiologist who performed radiology surgery on my late wife’s brain.
After the operation, Dr. Lai spoke with me and I remember his words: “I have done all I could, and it will take time for the results to be apparent.” He continued, “I believe there are two types of healing. One is the earthly and the other is the heavenly. I have done all the earthly I can, now it’s up to the heavenly.” That was the first time I heard a doctor speak with such humility and honesty. I felt also that he was giving God glory. Happily, the operation exceeded all our expectations. Prior to the operation my wife and I were told that the mass in the left hemisphere of her brain was so large and implanted in an area of critical functions that standard surgery was not an option and that if the radiosurgery was successful, she might survive for a maximum of five years. She lived another 23 years. Whether it is Dr. Lai, performing a life saving brain operation of Dr. Pereleman changing the contours of face and form, the best that human beings can do is temporary. Dr. Perelman performed amazing surgical makeovers but they were at best, expert adjustments of skin and tissue. A more accurate description of these kinds of makeover procedures might be, that they are repairs and physical manipulations.
Because we are eternal beings, with eternal souls we should be interested in the kind of makeover that is both extreme and everlasting. No, I don’t mean fuller lips or the transformation of any body part, the kind that costs thousands of
dollars and even so, have no guarantee. Tragically, some of these makeovers have been botched, leaving the patients disfigured and unhappy.
God’s word and human experience teach us that God specializes in things thought impossible. He performs divine makeovers. The Bible has several examples of the kind of makeover I’m thinking of. His makeovers are
transformative in quality and eternal in scope. The Bible describes the results as everlasting. As we contemplate God’s work in the lives of these biblical characters, perhaps you might find that you can identify with one or more of them.
Jesus launched His earthly ministry with an introduction to His promise of eternal life. Rabbi Nicodemus, a high level religious and political leader, had come to Him with what Jesus immediately recognized as a heart hungry for God. Jesus, almost immediately, addresses Nicodemus’ need. In that encounter, we hear the transforming words of Jesus: “You must be born again.” Nicodemus was stunned and protested. He thought Jesus could not really have been serious about what he heard him say. Jesus was speaking of an extreme (1) makeover.
The concept of a new birth was indeed extreme. It startled Nicodemus, but that is how God works to fix our broken, fallen, human nature. God works in ordinary, sinful human beings to perform His extraordinary work of divine and extreme makeovers. He starts with each person’s repentance and faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world to save sinners by dying on the cross and being buried as payment for our sin. He rose from the dead and now offers eternal life to all who believe. He performs spiritual cleansing and blesses us with a new nature. In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul wrote: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” (2)
The earthly ministry of Jesus provides example after example of people who experienced His extreme makeover. Their experiences resulted from an encounter with, and their expressed faith in, Jesus. A few of these characters are, a fisherman from Galilee named Peter, a Samaritan woman with a troubled past; Levi, a crooked tax collector; a demon possessed man; a dead girl and even after His ascension, in a miraculous encounter, he transformed Saul of Tarsus, a ruthless religious zealot. The backgrounds of these people, transformed by Jesus, illustrate the all-encompassing power of the Lord Jesus Christ to perform divine makeovers.
Jesus, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, continues His life-changing work in the lives of all who trust Him. That includes you and me. Sadly, many have come face to face with what the Bible calls the convicting work of God’s Holy Spirit in a human heart, and they have walked away. In some instances, they never had another chance. Early in the history of humanity, God declared: “My Spirit will (3) not contend with humans forever….” A verse in Psalm 95, which is repeated in the book of Hebrews, warns that if today you hear the voice of God, don’t harden your heart.
Each of us is invited to take advantage of the life changing work of Almighty God in our lives. In second Corinthians, chapter 6, the invitation is to any who will respond. God speaks to our hearts: “For He says, In the time of my favor I heard you and in the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” no one is excluded. God awaits your response.
My prayer is that you will stop, contemplate the offer of Almighty God, repent of your sin and, by faith, embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17)