Knock Your Socks Off!

The Apostle Paul makes an incredible statement in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when he tells us “Therefore if any man (or woman) be in Christ, he (or she) is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (KJV)  In one sentence he describes the outcome of the underlying foundation of the Gospel message!  He also defines the life story of every born again Christian.  He is simply saying that Jesus’ substitutionary work on the cross has made a way for anyone who will believe on Him to be free from the prison of their past and be able to live a completely new life in Christ.

To me, the strongest picture in that verse is painted through the word “behold!”  It has the same effect as if the Apostle Paul stopped in mid-sentence and rang a bell to catch everyone’s attention before continuing on with his statement.  The other day as my wife and I were driving through an older section of town called Montgomery Village, I suddenly became aware of the sounding of the bell ringing from the Catholic Cathedral Church that stands at the entrance to the 1950’s development.  Since I hadn’t heard that distinctive sound in a long time (I had served as an Altar Boy there in the 1960’s) it definitely caught my attention!

First I checked my watch to see what time it was, but that seemed to be of no significance to the sound emanating from the large bell tower.  Then as my mind began to whirl thinking about all the movies I had seen when the church bells were rung to announce an emergency situation, I began to look up into the sky and all around at the other myriad of drivers that were busily pursuing their individual tasks in the village that day.  But since nobody else seemed to be concerned, I shrugged my shoulders and drove on to our destination.  My point though, is that those bells caught my attention just as Paul’s usage of the word “behold” does in this verse.

Paul, like many other Biblical writers wanted his readers to know that something important, something beyond the normal was coming up!  That word has become one of my favorite commands in the Bible!  I once heard Jesse Duplantis, the well-known evangelist from Louisiana, liken the usage of this word in the Bible to the affect that his wife would have on him when she would walk out of the dressing room with a brand new dress on.  He humorously described that no matter how bored he was at having to go shopping with her that this moment ALWAYS woke him up and fully captured his attention!

I can concur with Jesse 100% with that experience.  Over the years I can vividly remember specific times when my wife Piper walked into my presence wearing an article of clothing that literally took my breath away!  There was the first time when she walked up to me across the crowed dance floor at the first dance of our senior year in high school.  To me it was like a spot light was suddenly focused on her and the crowd separated like the Red Sea at her approach!  If you were to ask me, I could tell you exactly what she was wearing on that September evening in 1970!  It was definitely a “BEHOLD” moment in my life! 

Then there was the time she walked through the door of our vacation cabin wearing a new outfit I had bought her for our 2 night holiday at the coast, or the burgundy sleeveless blouse and complimentary white shorts she wore for the first time at an extended family vacation at the Sea Ranch also on the Northern California coast not too many years ago.  That one caught not only my attention but everyone’s in the room that day!  When she walked in, the rest of the family seated around the kitchen table became quiet and her Dad exclaimed; “Wow, don’t you look pretty!”  (And of course every button on my shirt popped off because I was so proud of her!)

You know what?  I think that this is the same type of reaction that the Apostle Paul was trying to say that the world should have when one of God’s kids walk into a room!  He makes it clear that a big change in our lives happens when we accept Jesus as personal Savior and Lord and that this new life should be an eye-opening experience for others to see!  I Peter 2:9 in the King James Version calls us a “peculiar people.”  Now I’ve heard many funny sermons about this reference, but the real meaning of that thought is that we are different for those without Christ because we are now His possession.  We are now His sons and daughters and we should be acting like Him!

When Jesus came into a room people noticed and if we are now living in Him, don’t you think they should take notice of Him in us too?  Colossians 3:10 informs us that we “have (past tense) put on the new man (or woman) who is (current tense) renewed in full knowledge according to the image of Him who created it.” (English Majority Text Version)

One of my favorite scriptures that I confess multiple times a day over my wife is the last verse of Psalm 91.  After telling of all the good things that belong to the man or woman who trusts in the Lord, the Psalmist seals the deal by declaring “With a long life will I satisfy him, and make him to BEHOLD my salvation.” (Psalm 91:16 Jewish Publication Society Bible – the first official Jewish translation of the English Bible)  I find that the word “behold” is used as an emphasis for us to see what is being talked about with emotion and passion and should leave the reader with a strong desire to do something about it!

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary says that this is “not a mere casual beholding, but a fixed gaze (staring like I did during those times that my wife’s appearance took my breath away), to revel in My (God’s) salvation, to feast his eyes with.  Such seeing is possession.”  Alexander MacLaren’s Expositions of Holy Scripture states: “Certainly here, the Psalmist saw something beyond.”  Is that how people react when they see you?  Does your presence “knock their socks off” in that they catch a glimpse of another life free from the bondages of sin and stuffed full of the love, joy and limitless potential of God for their lives?

I’d like to think that I have had that effect on a few people’s lives… How about you?  The Bible seems to say that this is more than just a possibility or a random event.  What do you think?  Have a great weekend!  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”