An Inside Change

I am slowly recovering from what has been a flu-like condition. Dottie took Josue’ & Michelle to buy groceries for dialysis since I was unable to go.

Years ago I read a Dennis the Menace cartoon where his mother punished him by making him sit in a corner. Above Dennis head was a circle depicting what he was thinking. It was “I may be sitting on the outside but I am standing on the inside”.

Too often this is us. We look one way on the outside but another way on the inside. Years ago a collage performed an experiment where they went into a ghetto & found a derelict who was filthy, homeless, uneducated, alcohol ridden, etc. They spent months & thousands of dollars to make him presentable.

The school felt as though they had made a great difference in this man’s life. However, soon he disappeared. After weeks of looking he was found in another ghetto in the same condition he was in when first discovered.

We can change the outside of any man but if the inside does not change the person will never be what God desired for him to be. You can wash a pig and put a bow on his head but he will wallow in the first mud hole he can find.

An external change is not very valuable if the inside man is not changed. Jesus even called the Pharisees hypocrites by telling them the inside of their cup was filthy although attractive from the outside. We can portray ourselves as fine, clean Christians. But Jesus sees the inside.

The battle I fight everyday and so do you is the battle between the flesh (outside) and the Spirit (inner man). My attitude is what I have total control over.