Luke 11:39-40  But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and plate [as required by tradition]; but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.  You foolish ones [acting without reflection or intelligence]! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

When I first moved to New York, two and a half years ago, my face started to heavily breakout.  I’m talking pimples galore.  Now, I am aware that my skin is sensitive, acne-prone, and oily.  Yes, I know that New York has more pollution than Mississippi and what did work for my skin was no longer adequate to maintain it.   So, I started a part-time job as a flex worker in a cosmetics/skincare department.  Several co-workers gave me recommendations to try for my skin.  Although they were trying to help (and get a sell), nothing worked!  It was then, I realized my problem was not just topical, but something had to be fixed on the inside as well.  Problem solved, right?  No.  Even though I knew how to fix the problem, I was not ready to give up my eating habits.  Funny how we know how to fix something but are not quite ready to fix it.  Fast forward to summer ’18, I am now making wiser decisions regarding what I put inside my body.  To my surprise, certain foods I have been eating has helped tremendously with my eczema without me even trying to heal it through my new diet.

During this journey of self-discipline, God has been showing me the rewards of choosing the better way even though it is not convenient, but that is a whole other subject matter.  He showed me that everything is not able to be cured outwardly, but there is also a great work to be done on the inside.  Now, how does me changing my diet relate to you?  Am I just trying to get you to make better eating choices?   Our bodies are a temple, right?  Sure, we can go with that and it is honorable to live a healthy lifestyle.  If my personal story encourages you, great, but that’s not what I am trying to fully convey.  Oftentimes, we try to fix things by dealing with surface areas instead of looking inwardly.  Society offers plenty of “therapy” that does not fix or help our real issues.  Are you dealing with a hard day, breakup, or got laid-off?  Just go to the mall and let retail therapy fix your mood.  Take a vacation.  A little island breeze will do the trick.  Better yet, eat ice cream or junk food in general when you are lonely, you know, comfort food.  That will cheer you up (and give you diabetes).  Are you depressed?  No problem!  Just go take a walk outside and pop pills until you feel better or drowsy enough not to “care.”  Now listen, I LOVE a shopping spree, some good ole ice cream, and who wouldn’t want a vacay every now and then?  Parks can be serene, but the pills I got nothing, lol!  What I am saying is, those things are nice, but they are not the solution.  Even though taking a prescribed pill for depression is an inward “fix,” it does nothing for actual depression.  How can you fix something spiritual with a pill?  Oh, I’ll wait.  The answer is you can’t.  Only Jesus can look deep within us and show us, with The Holy Spirit, what is in us, what needs to come out of us, and how to get those things out.

In the scripture above, the Pharisees were distracted by Jesus not washing His Hands due to their simple mindset of only caring about outward appearances.  If we are not careful, we too can get caught in that same simple way of thinking.  It is foolish to only use external methods regarding internal issues.  Listen, we are born into sin.  So we have that against us, plus generational history operating within us that we overlook because we don’t want to do the work or we “look” okay on the outisde.  Another reason could be that we have been pacified all of our lives as if our bad attitude was cute and our lovely smile “covers” our nasty mouth. Wrong!  It is dangerous to get caught up in outward appearances because people thought since I was a preacher’s kid, went to church, and LOOKED innocent that I was innocent.  Meanwhile, my soul was deteriorating.  Relating that same example to my eating choices where people do not understand why I am choosing to eat certain foods because I “look” good, but my inward members were suffering.  It is imperative we keep a daily account of what is on the inside of us.  There is something behind that need to get the last word or be “right.”  It’s not just a principal as we like to say, it is spiritual and to be more specific it is pride.  Pride being one of the things that God hates, but we learn that as we read His Word.  His Word then acts as a flashlight, highlighting the deep parts of us we miss with our carnal mindset.  He shows us these terrible parts about us to humble us and offer His help to make us better.

So, what is on the inside?  What is something you have looked over?  Perhaps there is something God has already shown you about yourself, but like me, you are not ready to give “it” up, yet.  If that is so, I urge you to surrender and remind you that the reward is far greater than the sacrifice!  Hey! Even the world quotes, “It’s what’s on the inside that counts” …until next time!

Scroll on over to Tag You’re It to keep up with the task that ties along with this post!  If you have any prayer requests regarding this or anything else feel free to inform me on the prayer request tab!  I’d love to hear from you and pray with you!