My assignment was clear: completely renovate our outdated bathroom during my Christmas vacation. Its décor was left over from the 1990’s. The flooring had yellowed. The walls needed fresh paint. Nails had popped through the drywall and in general it was looking old and tired. It was time to, “Forget the former….” (Isaiah 43:18) The materials were purchased and the work began. The floor would be covered with a new material, the walls would receive a wainscoting and the paint would be an updated color. “See, I am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:19) The change was incredible and when finished my wife exclaimed, “It’s a complete transformation!”

And then I thought about another verse in Isaiah 43 that says, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgression, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” The old was gone and the new had come. Transformation is the process that you and I participate with Holy Spirit in everyday of our lives. Transformation is a visible picture of redemptions work in our hearts, working its way outward to effect our speech and even our outward appearance. I pray that transformation is an ongoing, continual process for you in 2017 as the former is forgotten.