Before and After...
It's funny how obsessive I can become with things. While pregnant, I'm pretty sure I googled every celebrity I could think of that had had children. I wanted to see before and after photos. I wanted to know if it was realistic to get back to the way you were before pregnancy once the baby arrived.
Before and After photos are used a lot to sell things... Proactive, any weight loss pill, stuff to help balding guys, whatever. We want that authentic, tangible proof before we spend money. We want to see someone like us who used it and now looks better.
That's the thing with photos though... they just show the physical self.
If ONLY we could do that with Jesus. Before Jesus, I looked like I had things pretty well together. I made good grades, played soccer, was a cheerleader, didn't do too many bad things, typical high school girl. Maybe a little too involved in hopes of getting on as many yearbook pages as possible... but pretty typical. My after picture of Jesus would show a college girl, still making good grades, avid runner, but in the after picture I help with the youth group at church.
Oooh but if only you could have seen the state of my heart.
It's true I still suffer from a lot of the same sins... my insecurity ramps up pretty regularly. I don't trust God with my future or my son. But now I have something to rely on. A rock. Some stability. That's something I didn't have before. No default hope.
I need to somehow refer back to the Before photo as often as I can. I need to see what God has saved me from. I need to see how far He's brought me. It's true, my life doesn't really look all that different (other than the obvious differences that come between 17 and 26 years of age). But the Bible encourages me to consider the great things He has done. It's why the Jews celebrated Passover. It's why we do communion. Remember what He's done! Remember who you used to be!
And the nice thing about the After photo is that everyday it's changing more and more until I look like Jesus. The changes are tiny in the day to day, but they are there. That's something to look forward to!
That's the thing with photos though... they just show the physical self.
If ONLY we could do that with Jesus. Before Jesus, I looked like I had things pretty well together. I made good grades, played soccer, was a cheerleader, didn't do too many bad things, typical high school girl. Maybe a little too involved in hopes of getting on as many yearbook pages as possible... but pretty typical. My after picture of Jesus would show a college girl, still making good grades, avid runner, but in the after picture I help with the youth group at church.
Oooh but if only you could have seen the state of my heart.
It's true I still suffer from a lot of the same sins... my insecurity ramps up pretty regularly. I don't trust God with my future or my son. But now I have something to rely on. A rock. Some stability. That's something I didn't have before. No default hope.
I need to somehow refer back to the Before photo as often as I can. I need to see what God has saved me from. I need to see how far He's brought me. It's true, my life doesn't really look all that different (other than the obvious differences that come between 17 and 26 years of age). But the Bible encourages me to consider the great things He has done. It's why the Jews celebrated Passover. It's why we do communion. Remember what He's done! Remember who you used to be!
And the nice thing about the After photo is that everyday it's changing more and more until I look like Jesus. The changes are tiny in the day to day, but they are there. That's something to look forward to!
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