Heavenly Haircut
Read Times: 8 mins
“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Ephesians 2:1-10 NLT
A haircut is really a special thing. People say that a haircut for men is what makeup is for women. It can turn the most aesthetically challenged of us into a brand new man. You seem to shine differently after a good haircut. People argue that the microabrasions from a haircut actually make your skin glow. Outfits look better after a good haircut. A good haircut will even give you a new sense of confidence and transform you into your best self, and God blessed me by allowing two of my best friends to become barbers.
What that meant is that from high school and beyond, whenever I needed a haircut, I could easily get one. While other students throughout my high school and college would have to find rides, save money, and plan for haircuts, I could have house calls with my roommate for free. My friends would see me when I couldn’t see myself and offer me haircuts that would transform me into a new person. They would schedule cuts for me before I even realized I needed one. They would transform my life simply because they wanted to, and I think this story helps us understand the gospel. God saw you at your worst and decided to transform you for free so that you could shine. Let’s unpack this text by paralleling it to my experience with barbers to help us understand the blessing that is salvation.
There are three truths I want to touch on from this text as they relate to your “heavenly haircut”, your sin, your Savior, and your responsibility to shine.
Truth 1: Sin (You Need a Haircut)
One of the biggest problems I had was that my hair would look terrible, and I’d be ok with it. I used to have dreadlocks that often looked more like a mistake than anything. Now I’m not saying locs look bad in general, mine just weren't done. I wouldn’t always get retwists or line-ups. There was an Afro growing under it, and there were some places where I could pull out my hair because of how weak, unhealthy, and unkept it was. It was bad at times. I had a problem that I had to acknowledge, and you do too.
The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that if someone says they're without sin, they're lying. So what does that mean? Sin is one word used to describe a few related realities. Sin is about missing the mark. To be sinful means that you weren’t tall enough to ride the ride of perfection or good enough to make God's team on your own. You came up short. In Hebrew, the same word is used when slingers miss a target. Sin also means distortion, perversion, or crookedness. You weren’t just a bad archer who missed the target; you were a crooked arrow who would never hit it in the first place. This is the word David uses when he said we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. But sin isn’t just about what has been done to you; it’s what you do as a result.
We were born into this sickness of sin, and because of it, we have symptoms of sin. This is when words like lawlessness, trespassing, and rebellion come into play. The sickness of your sinful nature comes with symptoms that play out in ways Paul describes in Galatians 5, Romans 1, and other places. The internal sickness or reality is what births the external symptoms or sins that God calls rebellion against His character and perfect order of things.
This sin is separation. Not measuring up to God and His standard makes you far from Him, and being far from the source of life brings what… You guessed it. Death. It's not that God is just out to get us. He is against sin because it hurts us. The payment, result, fruit, or wage of sin is lack of direction, confusion, and death, because it’s separating you from the Way, the Truth, and the source of Life. This is the condition we find ourselves in, and we need to admit it if we are to move forward. You have to be honest enough to admit your need for transformation. The barber is willing; you just have to admit you need a haircut.
Now, it’s hard to convince someone that their bad haircut is making them ugly in the same way it’s hard to convince them that they’re living in sin. It’s so intimate a reality that we often fear admitting it and ignore it. The issue is that many of us would rather redefine sin, tell ourselves that the results and consequences we’re experiencing aren’t that bad, or ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit because we’re too afraid to admit that something is wrong with us. We’re too afraid to live in the tension of imperfection. But it’s in admitting and surrendering that we see salvation. Maybe because our sense of safety and identity is tied up in a sense of control or competency, we can’t fathom the type of vulnerability asking for help would require. Maybe we think admitting our mistakes will result in pain or more hurt, or we feel like we have to clean ourselves up before admitting we were dirty. But the Bible says that there’s no fear in love because fear has to do with punishment, but Jesus didn’t come to condemn. He came to save.
I don’t want you to just acknowledge the benefits of a haircut or salvation. I want you to be comfortable enough to admit your need for it. It may be embarrassing to admit how ugly and dirty you really are. It may be uncomfortable to admit your need. But what if God was trying to clean it all up for you? This brings us to our next truth.
Truth 2: Salvation (You Have A Barber)
Remember, I told you that my friends would schedule me for a cut before I’d ask? It’s because at times I wouldn’t even know or care about how bad I really looked. But they saw what I couldn’t see and wanted to offer a plan of escape just in case I would agree to it.
This is kinda like what God does for us. He doesn’t make fun of us for our ugliness. The Bible says that while we were yet sinners, He acted on a plan to clean us up. (That’s more proof that you don’t have to fix it yourself before coming to Him. He’s a friend of sinners. He isn’t afraid of your mess.) Before He made the world, He made a decision to consider you holy and without fault in His eyes. He decided to adopt you and sign you up as an heir to the fortune He owned simply because He wanted to. Not because you did anything right or even showed much promise in getting it right, but because of His love. This is why our text today is so beautiful. God saved you by grace through your faith. He gave you what you didn’t deserve because you had the faith to let go and let Him. Will you sit in the chair and allow Him to transform? Will you allow Him to change your nature for the better? Will you allow Him to cut out the dead parts so that you can grow healthier?
You have a friendly barber who saw what you were missing and already has a plan and the power to transform you. They won’t make fun of you or condemn you. They simply want to give you a better life than you can give yourself. Will you admit your need for a savior and accept your salvation? Will you sit in the barber's chair?
Truth 3: Shine (You Have A Responsibility)
The good news of salvation is almost too good to be true. God saw you in your mess and wasn’t afraid of it. He actually got down into it, felt it with you, and committed Himself to cleaning you up and giving you more than you could earn or deserve on your own. You’re safe and secure because of His work. The question now is, how do we say thank you?
Our text today says that we are God's masterpiece. We are His magnum opus. We are the crown of His creation. A masterpiece was a work produced by someone to prove that they were who they said they were. The text says that we have been united with Christ so that generations to come can look to us to see what God can do. You can say thank you by allowing God to use you as proof of His power. You are not God’s lawyer, you're His witness. You’re like the customer in a weight loss commercial. People should be able to look at our before and after pictures and be drawn to the God who transformed us. The Bible says we were designed to do good works that He planned for us long ago, and this good work is to shine so that others sign up for what we have.
The best way to thank my barber friends was to point others to them. I was a walking billboard. Every time I was on stage, I testified to what they could do. Every time I posted on Instagram, I pointed clients in their direction. The price of my haircut was made up for in referrals. It wasn't just about me getting a good cut; I was called to point others to where they could get theirs. That’s how you are called to say thank you. The issue is that many of us are hiding our lights. No one around us knows how important God is to us or how much we owe to Him, so they're missing out on the transformation God sent us into our job, family, and city to tell them about. We have a great commission to simply live in a way that what God did in your life is seen by others. Shine so that they’ll see your good works and be pointed to the Master behind the masterpiece.
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