Remodeling Within

My husband and I recently decided to get new siding and windows for our house. It's all installed now and looks great. I know our neighbors appreciate the upgrade and some of them are now sprucing up their houses. It's amazing how what people see on the outside has an impact on them. That's one of the main reasons Christians need to be careful in their walk through this world. People are watching and judging Christ by what they see. Paul said to do nothing to discredit the name of Jesus.

But once we got the outside of the house looking great, we looked at the inside and realized just how rundown it looks. Paint is needed badly and new linoleum in the kitchen. The inside needs cleaning up even more than the outside. That's how it is with Christians. Sometimes the outside looks great, but inside we aren't very Christ-like at all. Thoughts that are not loving, lust, greed, resentments, all these and more can deaden the spirit and affect the soul.

God calls us to look within and consider our inner lives carefully, to use Scripture and the light of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, to give us eyes to see what lies within. And lest we feel hopeless when we see the true condition of our hearts, he reminds us gently that Jesus bore all those weaknesses and sins on the cross of crucifixion. He died so we could be forgiven. He was raised from the dead so we, too, could have new lives. Lives that are continually being transformed by the inner working of the Holy Spirit.

The outside counts for much, but while God wants us to reflect his grace to the world, he looks inside to our hearts--to innermost core of our being. We cannot escape his gaze. But his search is not to condemn, it is to bring light so we can yearn for more, to seek to be as him in this world. I say this because I know he is looking inside me and showing me what needs to change. Though it may make me uncomfortable at times, I truly want to be like Jesus. With that desire, I welcome his searching gaze, because I know it means he loves me. I am after all my Father's daughter.