REV Dr Stephen Mosedale led the service at Crediton Methodist Church on Sunday, February 9. His theme was makeovers.

Stephen suggested we live in somewhat a makeover culture. There are TV shows about garden transformations, decluttering, body image and personal grooming.

Why are there so many TV shows about change? A lot of people are looking for something better than what they have at the moment. Sometimes older people want to recover what they have lost and these shows allow them to dream.

We are going to think about makeovers we all need and hopefully we are all committed to.

Most people recognise that keeping fit is a good thing. The media tells us that perfect smiles and beautiful bodies are the means of a fulfilled life or a professional makeover, a nip and tuck, or wrinkle cream, protein supplements and their life will be transformed.

For sure, a healthy balanced diet and plenty of exercise is good for all of us, but whatever makeover we have, our bodies will eventually wear out.

Is that our best life? No, it is not in the body but in the soul where true ageing sets in - or doesn’t - and that is about attitude of mind.

The brain and its functions are part of the body and will share the body’s fate – growing old, wearing out and failing in due course.

The materialist, someone who believes the body and physical world is all we have, has no more reason to educate the mind than someone has a personal trainer to tone their body. For him that is purely a function of the brain.

For the Christian the human soul is very much more than our body parts. True education at every stage of our life is about shaping and nurturing our soul – inward transformation of the person.

The goal is Christlikeness, a genuine love of God, of God’s people and God’s world. That is a matter of lifelong commitment. Can we be disciples in name only but not in fact?

In our readings Isaiah, Paul and Peter all learned that true disciples commit to keeping fit in the only way that ultimately counts. Each of these three stories contain four aspects of the makeover that we all need.

First, we encounter the jaded image. Isaiah says “there is no hope for me”.

He is not just looking in the mirror. It is a vision of the throne of God that prompts him to say “I am ruined”.

Compare Paul’s recounting the presence of the risen Jesus as evidence of the truth of the Gospel. Paul sees what he lacked before his conversion.

Luke tells us that after the miraculous catch, Peter says he “is a sinful man”. The mirror he is looking at is Jesus.

In all three cases, Isaiah, Paul and Peter, the second point is the appraisal of the jaded image as presenting after a negative lifestyle.

They were all living what was inconsistent with the holy things of God.

Paul and Peter suddenly see the purposelessness of their life’s focus. Isaiah’s life appears negative and destructive. All three characters describe that negative lifestyle as sin.

Sin is about being alienated from the purpose of God. So a jaded image and a lifestyle of absence from God, we get the third life-changing moment which happens by God’s initiative each time. It just happens.

It is Jesus who invites Peter to push out for a catch. God’s appearance to Paul near Damascus took him totally unawares.

The life-changing moment for each of them is God’s doing. The encounter with God is sudden but for many people their sense of God may be a gradual awakening as they live the lives without a conscious faith.

In terms of our spiritual makeover, the life-changing moment comes when something happens that means it finally clicks, that something has been done about our jaded image and fruitless lifestyle – the decision is made in that moment to orientate.

Some have been brought up in homes of faith so there was not a dramatic life-changing moment for you.

Some may have been brought up in homes not of active faith but cultural Christianity but God’s presence was not part of the furniture in terms of lifestyle. You might remember the point in your life when you accepted God – that resulted in the fourth thing – a new focus of a life committed to God’s service. A personal commitment to do specifically and unfailingly what God directs.

For all three characters, and everyone else, the life-changing moment, the outcome is a life of service that dictates your life’s work.

Life’s work is not to be confused with your day job, but must wholly focus on employment, leisure, home – all of it – and must embrace the reality of following Christ and serving as messengers in order that others might have the makeover too, enabling them to have the thrill of discovering a whole new way of life.

As disciples of Jesus we are all called not only to learn, but always to be teachers to.

Bronwyn Nott