IS YOUR ‘OUTSIDE’ FAITH A TRUE REFLECTION OF YOUR ‘INNER‘ FAITH?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
(Psalm 51:5-6)

MEDITATION:
Let’s be honest, when others look at us,
they see what we want them to see,
but they cannot see the “real” person we are deep inside.
Sure, we look presentable and we want to show our best side to others,
however, we know the unattractive part of us that we are concealing.

Have you ever visited a sawmill and watched them process timber?
They bring in a big log from the woods with bumps and knots on it.
Then, they lay it on a cradle and run it through a saw, cutting off one side.
They rotate it, and run it through again cutting off another side.

They do the same thing with the remaining two sides and when they’re
finished you can see a square piece of wood that is perfectly straight.
However, if you look at the end of it, the heart of the log is still crooked.
That’s the way it is with some individuals who are only outwardly living
the Christian life, but inwardly they have not been reborn to a new life.

But the scriptures warn us that the heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
We need regeneration; we need to be born again.

Being “reborn” means a change in our outward appearance
(words, attitudes, actions, etc.)
and a change in our inward sincerity
(honesty, compassion, dependability, encouragement, etc.).

ACTION:
Read Psalm 19:14 and pray it from your heart:
“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
(Psalm 19:14)
Pray that you would have a strong desire to be pure
in thought, word, and deed (with everything within you).

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I pray that You would change me from
the inside out so that others will see the real me, and that
I will be pleasing to them, and to You. But more than that,
I pray that they will see the sincerity of my faith and know
that I am a follower of Your Son, Jesus. May I never be
ashamed to let my faith be obvious to others.”