Change of Look

Yesterday, we talked about change, and speaking about it, have you noticed how a person changes when they start surfing?

When you find surfing, with the first wave comes a great transformation. Suddenly, a new surfer look appears; a way of speaking and even a different hairstyle.

This transformation isn’t just a look on the outside, but also a lifestyle change. Your living space (close to the ocean!), your work or living activities, must leave some free time for surfing. It even influences your choice in any sort of relationship. It is a deep, intimate change, just like being reborn! 

And these changes have a very strong impact on our actions. You can always find a surfer in contact with the ocean, always wanting “just one more wave!” But do these radical changes actually change the way we interact with others? What happens to the way we behave around others?

Surfing can become a seriously selfish sport. We all see surfers who don’t respect their turn and cut in when someone else was surfing a wave first. We see turf claiming and beach fights. Not even mentioning the ambition to go for more waves, in spite of even our loved ones (partner, children, etc.) or our personal growth. We move at the rhythm of the swell to addictive extremes.

The same can happen in our spiritual life. Even though we have an essential permanence (let’s say soul or spirit), our characteristics or properties change. Constantly, we move toward right or wrong, like the tide.

We say we can’t help it; our way of being beats our willpower every time. As Paul said, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ... For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:15–24).

What can we do? We need a radical and intimate transformation! That’s why Jesus told Nicodemus that it’s necessary to be “born again” (John 3:3). An encounter with God, through Jesus, implies the idea of starting over.

The moment in which you decide to trust God and you rely on Christ for the first time is very special, like surfing your first wave. Only then, the great transformation begins, from the inside out, for all good things come from love. “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).

But it is necessary to dress yourself in Christ, like when you put on your wetsuit. His unbelievable love brings deep change. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

It’s never too late to start surfing and today isn’t too late to restart your life. Today is the day of salvation and reconciliation with God and yourself. Don’t hesitate. Leap onto the wave of life with Jesus!