Inside Out

I have to say I have some personality traits that get me into trouble - over and over again.  The funny thing about these traits is that they can be positive or negative.  I am stubborn (people who are closest to me know this all too well).  My mom once described me as "a person who would fit a square peg into a round hole."  This can be a good trait when things need to get done - it often exhibits itself as determination.  But it can also be negative, making a person pig headed or unteachable.  Compare that to the fact that I am also very flexible - personality wise (although, I can still kick above my head).  I can be really easy going but sometimes I am too easy going.  There is such a thing.  On more than one occassion I have forced others to come along on my "fly by the seat of my pants" journey.  Not so much now that I have kids - but then again maybe more so...  Anyway my point is its not that the trait is negative, it is how it plays out in a persons life that makes it positive or negative.  However my personality exhibits itself is a clear indicator of how I am doing on the inside. 

Yesterday I was reading Mark 7.   In the first part of the chapter Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law.  Over the years they started making up all these extra rules and treating them like scripture and forgetting the 10 Commandments.  The guidelines that had been set by God.  They mistreated and dishonoured their parents.  Divorces we previllent and took little more than a poorly cooked meal to be seen as "justified".  The poor were ignored.  The sick were shunned.  Widows and orphans were left to fend for themselves or even cheated out of what little they had.  Jesus didn't just come into a world that needed to be retaught but into world that needed to be smacked in the face and kicked in the ... er ... pants.  They had been going along merrily doing whatever they wanted without a second thought.  ²⁰ He (Jesus) went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.  I think a lot of jaws hit the floor.  All the religious leaders of the day we being called on their behaviour.

The Pharisees and teachers for the most part focused on appearances.  That you looked the "right" way.  When they gave offerings they made sure people were watching.  The prayed loudly in the streets so others could see how "holy" they were.  They justified their neglect of the Law with the observance of rules and the manipulation of perceptions.  Not all of them were fake.  Many - if not most of them believed following the "rules" meant they were obeying God - however misplaced it was this was their idea of obedience.

It is so easy to look at the Pharisees and that crew and say, "What a bunch of idiots or jerks or hypocrites or whatever adjective you think fits.  Unfortunately, more times than not we fall into the same traps the Pharisees and Saducees and teachers and scribes and all those people fell into in the New Testament- because we are all in the same boat.  We are all weak, broken, prideful, insecure people. 

We all too often look at Christianity as a set of "dos" and "don'ts".   We equate "success" in our relationship with God with observing the "dos" and avoiding the "don"ts".  If we dont steal...success.  If we don't lie...success.  If we don't cheat on our spouse...success.  If we fudge on our taxes...failure.  If we tithe on the ill gotten gains of the tax fudge... mini success?? (Just kidding)  If we volunteer at our church...success.  if we give to the poor...success.  We work so hard and some of us maybe not so hard, at doing the right things instead of being in right relationship.

We get caught up in rules and slowly "the rules" start to take priority.  What "looks right" is often the right choice but "spiritual success" isn't determined by that choice but by the state of the heart that made the choice.  If  your heart isn't drawing closer and closer to Jesus and you are just following a set of rules, the "dos" and "don'ts".  The sinful nature you battled in the beginning still sticks around.  Jesus has to have access to your heart so He can change you from the inside out. 

If Jesus doesnt have access, all the gross sin stuff you keep shoving down, trying to ignore or trying to manage in your own strength will eventually come out.  The relationship with Jesus is what changes us.  He transforms us.  We cant transform ourselves no matter how good we are at following rules.   Doing the right thing does not equal success.  Knowing Jesus is the only thing that can bring spiritual success.  When we know Jesus our nature changes.  It becomes more like Him and we are more and more inclined to do what is right.  The difference is the right choices are born out of a right heart.

More words t think about ... Galations 6: 14 - 16  May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.  Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Romans 12:1-2  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

In the words of one of my favorite kids songs...

Change me from the inside out

Let Your love shine through

Let there be no doubt

Change me from the inside out

Create a new heart in me!