Made Over of Makeover?

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul says "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. " Take a minute to let that soak in.
Sometimes we let our lives get in the way of the truth. This doesn't mean that life becomes sunshine and gumdrops, but it does mean that I'm not the same anymore. It's too easy to view our salvation as a makeover. That's not really the image Paul is giving us. He's not talking about upgrading our lives. Jesus didn't come back to polish us up and clean us off. He came to make us new. Not improved. Brand new.
Some people buy worn-out, damaged houses that they intend to fix up. The house is fundamentally the same, but its appearance is different. It's been improved, but it's built on the same foundation as before. When we give God ownership of our lives, he's not interested in a fixer-upper. He levels it, rebuilds the foundation and makes something new. I've never said these words, but I think that many times I've thought of my salvation as plastic surgery. You know, let Jesus smooth this here, add something over there, take something away. But his words to Nicodemus were very different from that. He didn't offer him a facelift, he offered him a new start - to be born again. He has made the same offer to us. We don't have to have a makeover when we can be made over.