The thing about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear is that the two have absolutely nothing in common with each other. The reason for the saying being popular among my grandmother’s generation must have been that it so adequately expresses the fact that it cannot be done. At least, it cannot be done by mere mortals.
In the business section of the August 2 Dallas Morning News, there was an article about the changes made to the McDonald’s European division restaurants. In addition to sleek, new decor, the European group features menus that are varied by region, including some regional favorites along with the standard burger and fries. The menu for French McDonald’s restaurants includes wine (McMerot maybe?) and the tables include iPod stations. In Britain you can order porridge at breakfast instead of an egg McMuffin. In Italy, there is pasta on the menu – although surely they don’t say “do you want fries with that pasta?”
While these innovations have the European division seeing huge McProfits, does this really represent change? Yes and no. McDonalds is still, at its heart, a burger place – although, arguably, a more hip and healthier burger place. But no American could walk into a McDonald’s in France and fail to notice that it is significantly different than what you experience in Dallas, Texas.
As Christians, we have to change. Left alone, we are able to make changes. But no matter what each of us alone is able to accomplish, it is not within our power to become silk purses. God, and God alone, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, can do that.
Make no mistake about it, that is exactly what He does – He takes flesh and bone, mortal beings, and makes us into eternal, spirit beings. At creation, He took mud and made it flesh. At a wedding, Jesus turned water into wine. God is not bound by the laws of physics that He created. He is not constrained to working in the physical realm. God CAN make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
While we are in the flesh, there will always remain in us a portion of what we are at the core: sinners. But, sinners who are in the process of change. Linked to God by the Holy Spirit, we are able to make real, lasting changes even now. We are able to build right character by choosing right behavior. That is what we are to do each and every day of our Christian walk. Those around us should notice the change.
Alcoholic’s Anonymous teaches it’s members to always consider themselves to be alcoholics – recovering alcoholics. We are all recovering sinners throughout the course of our mortal lives.
Then, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the return of Jesus, we will be completely changed –TRANFORMED – from what we are now, to something that is entirely different. We will become what we have been destined to become from creation: eternal, spiritual beings in the image of our Father. Right now, the changes we make can seem small. Right now, the work to make those changes can seem huge. A single, desired change can be a life-long struggle. But each change builds upon the other and works together in us to become part of the final and complete transformation.
God makes silk purses out of sow’s ears – only He can.
With love, Nancy
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