Unrecognizable

0:00March 8th, Unrecognizable. Do you enjoy witnessing a good transformation? Maybe it's remodeling a house, decaling an old car, or even styling your hair in a fun new way? The greater the transformation, the better the shot value, right? Especially when the transformed object or person is hardly recognizable. Who knew all that potential was stored within the older version just waiting to be made new? You know, our new life in Christ works this same way. Today we'll hear from a man who knows all too well what it's like to be unrecognizable. He's here to share his true story on today's Unshackled Daily Devotional. They divorced while I was in Vietnam and I never heard from Dad again.

1:03Vietnam left me bitter and disillusioned. I spent the last six months in my tour in San Diego. I bought a Harley, let my hair grow and smuggle drugs. Then nickname me MacLamania. I sank into a cesspool of filth and hate. My mother didn't even recognize me when I went home to visit. One night in a drug-induced frenzy, I beaten mom's boyfriend up and even knocked her around. Back to California, I went to hang out with my backer friends, but I was so unstable even they didn't want me around. It was the word of God handed to me on a slip of paper that began to change my life. It said, God commands his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I was dumbfounded. How could God love me? Still, I couldn't get that verse out of my mind. Two weeks later, I cried all night and called out to God begging him to save me. I went back home, a new man in Christ and asked my mom's forgiveness. No one recognized me as I went around making a man's for my past. The Lord has given me a god-day wife and three children.

2:06Today, we run a home where troubled young men meet the Savior. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Friend, this is true with your life, too. Whether you came to Christ from the darkest corners of society or not, your heart and mind have been renewed by the Holy Spirit. And you no longer have to resemble your old self. You can begin a new life immediately, cutting ties with the old life and revealing the new creature you have become. You can be unrecognizable. Are you living in this truth today? Unshackled, the longest running audio drama in history

3:06airs on over 3,000 radio stations worldwide. Real people, real life stories, stirring dramatic accounts of hopelessness and the hope that changes everything. This award-winning program grips the heart with compelling and relevant stories of transformed lives. Without Jesus Christ, we are all shackled by sin. By our wrong choices, disobedience and selfish motives. But God is at work. And the power of Christ sets us free of our bondage. Unshackled daily devotionals are built on true life accounts of us ponder the application of Scripture to our lives. Each devotional tells a dramatic testimony of transformation of a real person. Listen to a new devotional every day. And don't forget to tell your friends about unshackled, daily devotionals.