Inside-Out - 04/29/19

Inside-Out
April 29, 2019

Prayer: We ask You, Lord, to show us how to live honestly before You and men and repent when necessary. Amen.

Scripture: “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?’ “Luke 11:39-40 NKJV

While at the beach we found a magnificent shell. It was shiny, colorful and unlike any other shell we had collected. We put it in a bucket of water and waited to see if there was anything living in it. As we admired the beauty of the outside of the shell the most awful looking creature suddenly emerged from the inside. It was slug-like and slung itself around violently. We would have never guessed that something so gorgeous on the outside could contain something so ugly on the inside.

I wonder how often people are like this? We spend so much time every morning getting ready. We “touch up” throughout the day, after lunch, before a meeting, and again before we go out at night. We work really hard to improve the outside, but what about the inside?

Do we spend as much time in prayer and studying the Bible every morning as we do getting the “outside” ready? Is the outside a true reflection of what is inside of us? Or are we like that shell that opens up and the ugliness of jealousy, grudges, gossip, holier-than-thou attitudes and other behaviors reveal areas inside us that need some “touching up?”

Perhaps you know someone who works really hard at making his or her life look perfect. He or she appears to have it all and have it all together. But, once you get to know the person, you see what a mess he or she is inside.

God is the only one who can clean up the mess inside us. He is the only one who can work wonders with our lives–from the inside-out.

Inside-Out – 04/29/19

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