Removing Camouflage [Mth 2-Day 17-Post 14]

The good guys win. The bad guys lose. Aren’t those the movies we love?

Actually, no! There is always more to it. The hero or heroine has to learn some kind of lesson. Just add in some variety of metamorphosis, and we are absolutely hooked!

Take, for example, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. If Toula complied with her parents, went to Greece, found any ol’ man, got married and made babies, would we be very interested? Of course not! “Frump girl” has to get a comprehensive makeover too!

So with optimism and hardly idle curiosity, we watch as Toula decides that nothing is ever going to change in her life unless she changes it. She heads back to school, experiments with clothes and styles, sports a fresh hairdo, plays with contacts and makeup, and embarks on a different career path using her newfound computer skills. Wow. That’s a whole lot of sudden upheaval for one person. And then, oh wait—somebody noticed! And our heroine finds her prince too. What more could she ask for in an hour and a half?

Movies make everything look easy. In five seconds, Toula waltzes out of the school after apparently registering for classes—skipping the repetitive paperwork, online course glitches, or frustrating credit transfers. In six seconds, she tries on fabulously-flattering clothes—without any gut-jerking size-searching, mirror-hating belly bulges, or frugal fashion faux pas. And in seven seconds, she joins the Wonder Bread lunch table—never mind clique-intrusive self-consciousness, sore-thumb syndrome, or any thought to hip-hugging white flour.

Movies can even make hard things look easy. Sure, Toula has a little trouble putting in those contacts the first time. But her makeup appears professionally done; her jar-sized curlers magically generate wavy, well-managed locks; and suddenly, that nose is no longer a problem, right?

Well, of course, this is Hollywood, and all that matters is—your camouflage. As long as you’re wearing the right hunting gear, it doesn’t matter if your ducks are in a row.

My daughters and I recently watched one of my childhood favorites, the 1982 movie “Annie,” with Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters and Albert Finney as Oliver Warbucks. And a certain song struck me like never before. The lyrics are presented as a silly advertising jingle, and yet when the poorly dressed orphans of Ms. Hannigan’s dismal orphanage sing along, they strike a sharp contrast against a lonely billionaire with a seemingly permanent frown:

Hey hobo man, hey Dapper Dan, you’ve both got your style
But brother, you’re never fully dressed without a smile
Your clothes may be Beau Brummelly, they stand out a mile
But brother you’re never fully dressed without a smile
Who cares what they’re wearing on Main Street of Saville Row
It’s what you wear from ear to ear and not from head to toe
That matters

You can be as well dressed as Kate Middleton or as fine a public speaker as Joel Osteen, but if you can’t produce a real smile, why bother getting dressed up at all? Your message will be loud and clear.

This past Sunday our wonderful pastor spoke another great message, this time about the process of transformation that we begin when we first choose to follow Christ. He shared Paul’s message to the Romans, which says:

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. (12:2 AMP)

I know when I first chose Jesus to be Lord of my life, I was sure my life was bound to change. I learned quickly that God’s ways and the world’s ways were not the same; they were, in fact, completely opposite. But learning that fact alone wasn’t enough. I had to give the Holy Spirit my entire mind to be renewed, revamped, remapped, remade. Each day of the last 17 years has been a step in that direction, leaving behind the superficial ideals and choosing the good and the perfect ways of the Lord.

Some of us are actively seeking that transformation, while others are just along for the ride—hoping to pick up better habits, wishing for opportunities to make better choices, assuming that the changes are happening without any solid intentions on their part. And yes, I was one of those people. Maybe even for 15 of the last 17 years. It’s one thing to attend church services, take part in church activities, join church small groups or Bible studies, hang out with church friends. It’s another thing entirely to know Jesus, allow Him to work in your heart, spend time with Him, read and seek understanding of His Word. Philippians 3:10-11 (AMP) describes so eagerly, so actively, the true manner in which we should pursue this transformation:

[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] that if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

This was the scripture we wrote on the back of our wedding programs more than eight years ago. I don’t think I understood back then how lacking I was in this pursuit. Even now I feel I am only glimpsing the intensity with which Paul wrote a kind of life-statement to the Philippians, hoping they would catch the fire that burned so fervently inside his heart, to “perceive and recognize and understand” the wonders of God.

I did know that going into the “70 in 7” Project, a major metamorphosis was coming. Was being demanded of me. But how? There’s only one way I know it can be done. I have experienced it only once before in my life, two years ago on the weekend that Father delivered me from 18 years of depression. I sought God that weekend as I have never sought Him out before. I was the persistent widow infinitely multiplied. I begged Him for joy. And God responded. Just as He promises in Jeremiah 29:12-13 (AMP):

Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

I required Him. I require Him. Every moment of every day. My Vital Necessity. He consumes my heart.

And now, while I may be losing 70 pounds and transforming my outward appearance, He is transforming my heart as I write to Him, for Him, about Him, in Him, these 70 blog posts.

And I won’t have to wear my camouflage anymore.