Have you ever remodeled your home and took pictures before the work started and then after the work %\as complete? We are used to "before and after" comparisons. The comparison may have to do with some structure that has been remodeled. a particular method for getting into shape, some self-help material, some item that has been restored, or a host of other things.

It occurs to me that our conversion to Christ should be the ultimate "before and after" comparison. It seems to me that there should be two answers to the following question --- Am I the same person I was before my obedience to the gospel?

Admittedly, there have been some physical changes in the 30+ years since I was baptized into Christ. While I like to "kid myself' into thinking that there have been no changes, the mirror and doctor's visits tell a different story. Fundamentally, though, I am the same person in a physical sense. The fact that I am a Christian did not change my DNA.

In another and much more important sense, I should not be the same person I was before that evening all those years ago when I was "...buried... with /Christ) by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).

The transformation described in the New Testament is so dramatic that it is described in the following terms in l Peter 2:9-10 --

· We are "...called ...out of darkness into His marvelous light. "

· We "... were not a people, but now ...are God's people. "

· We "...had not received mercy, but now...have received mercy. "

Paul pens something even more dramatic in Ephesians 2:5. He writes that we "...were dead in our trespasses, abut now have been] made.. . alive together with Christ.... "

It is flattering when people who have not seen me in a number of years try to make me believe that I haven't changed much. I know that what they are saying is not true, but it is kind of nice to hear anyway.

However, if those same people see no difference in the "old Eric" and the "new Eric" in terms of my priorities, my behavior, my language, and so many other things that should reflect my commitment to the Lord, I need to do some very serious thinking --- and changing. How about you? Is there a difference in "the before and after?"

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:27, ESV). Eric