“It’s changed my personality!” This was the confident claim of a middle-aged entertainer who had just had a face-lift.  She had gone to a world-renowned cosmetic surgeon.  He was able to remove the lines that age and the difficulties that had plowed deeply into her cheeks.  She no longer had bags under her eyes and the furrows in her brow were now smooth.

           A friend exclaimed, “You look like a new woman!” reaffirming the pain and expense she had endured.  She responded, “I only hope I can stay that way!” in a concerned voice that contradicted her now smooth and youthful looking face.  Then she explained that the surgeon had told her that the face is an expression of the psyche, and that her face-lift would last only if there were a change in her inner patterns of thought and emotions—in her personality.

           Personality is not easy to change.  Most authorities say that once a person’s personality is set by early training, example, and molding, it   cannot be changed.  Jesus shows us otherwise.  He can transform our personalities!  Although Jesus never used the word, everything he said, did, and does, radically alters and reshapes personalities.  He has called us to be His people in order to remold us in His image, to change our  personalities.  The parable of the yeast is a parable about transformation.  About transforming our worldly personality into a Christ-centered personality.

           Matthew 13:33—He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.

           As God’s people we understand that the change in our personality is a daily, constant, life-long change.  May God continue to change our personalities so that others can see the change in us and want to come to know God.

 

Pat