Have you ever watched the show, Extreme Makeover? They take someone (often nominated by family members) and do a complete makeover on them — clothes, hair, makeup, etc…I loved watching the transformation in those shows — I just wanted to see the before and after and the family’s reaction to them after they were done. I loved seeing someone who was basically shrinking away, not wanting to be seen, transform into someone who walks upright and is happy to be seen. It’s the underdog story, “from rags to riches,” if you will.  

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It’s amazing what just being cared for and thought worthy of can do for a person. It’s not so much the clothes, the hair, or the makeup, but the time that was spent with them, making them feel their best. Now, I realize I’m romanticizing this a bit. The show was after the shock factor, but I loved seeing those people come to life. I even saw an episode where they did that for a homeless man and then reconnected him with his estranged family. That felt like restoration at its best!

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I have to admit, I have thought about what it would be like to be on that show and get a whole new look — new clothes, new makeup, and a new do — yes, please. But the truth is, as a follower of Christ, I’ve been promised something so much better (and so have you)…

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When we come to the Lord, he removes our filthy garments and takes our iniquity away from us. He clothes us with pure vestments. He makes us into a new creation (check out 2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Isaiah 61:10 says, “I am overwhelmed with the joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels” (NLT).

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These garments aren’t “off the rack” clothes from Macy’s or Sak’s. These are glorious, fancy, better-than-Sunday-best clothes. These are royal robes given to us by the LORD God himself. We don’t have to search the racks, trying on endless outfits to find the right fit. God already knows, and he freely gives them to us when we come to him.

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But there’s a catch. We have to willingly accept our new wardrobe. Sometimes in the show Extreme Makeover, they would go back and do an update from some of their past guests. Some of them continued to walk in their new selves, dressing in those nice clothes and keeping up with their hair and hygiene. Sadly, some of them went right back to the old habits they had before the makeover.  

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Aren’t we like that sometimes? Hanging on to old “clothes” – old habits – because they are comfortable. Like those in the show who go back, we, as Christ followers, often do the same. We forget that we have been clothed in robes of righteousness, that we are new creations, and that we have the power to choose to wear our new identity. Restoration is at hand, if only we choose to grab it.  

What old “clothes” are you hanging onto because you’re just comfortable in them? Where are you having a hard time seeing your new identity, your righteousness in the blood of Jesus? How can you give those old thoughts over to him today?  

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Friend, he’s waiting for you. He’s holding that robe up to drape around your shoulders. Are you ready to accept?

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Father, that you would come so near to us as to actually place that robe on us…That you would, in all of our brokenness, forget it and see us as new creations — it blows my mind. I’m so very thankful for your gift, your nearness, and your attention to me. May I walk in that knowledge all my days.