Outside - Inside
In this world what matters is the outside, what is on the inside get's brushed aside.
What get's pushed on us is; outward beauty, outward success, money, possessions, etc, etc...
Ever since we are little how we are on the inside get's brushed aside.
Image is everything, tv, movies, magazines,preach that, what is bad get's exalted, what is good nobody is interested in.
When someone ask you; how are you? Do you tell them how you really feel? Or "just great" or "good" is your reply, no matter how you feel.
You may feel totally lousy, miserable, but on the outside you smile and pretend that everything is a OK.
God is exactly the opposite!
Jesus Christ showed exactly the opposite! He came for the ones who society looks down upon, sinners, cast outs, poor, sick, addicts, lost ones and lost causes....
And he starts changing them from the inside out... He makes them beautiful people on the inside, and then it shows on the outside, they then have a certain glow to them, peace, a quiet confidence and contentment...
We want to be rich, famous, somebody, important, but that stuff doesn't satisfy or make happy in a real way and in trying to accomplish those outward goals we wreck our insides by becoming liars, cheaters, selfish people, bullies or bullied ones, pretenders. We hurt others, push them aside, disregard them to get to our selfish goals. And then the world praises us...
To God the outside doesn't matter, it's the inside that really matters
He gives PEACE, FORGIVENESS OF SINS, BY HIS BLOOD WASHES US CLEAN ON THE INSIDE, MAKES US NEW PEOPLE, GIVES US NEW DESIRES, SO THAT WE CARE ABOUT OTHERS...
God changes the inside
We all pass away.....
All the beauty can't save the beautiful people from passing away, all the money can't save the rich from passing way, all the fame, all the importance, all the praise, can't save anybody from dying, we all die eventually.
So what will you present to God? Your outward beauty, your money, your fame, your importance, that everyone in the world sang your praise? Will God be impressed? No, that stuff fades away....and the rich and beautiful and important and famous with it.....
What we can't do for ourselves, God does for us, he changes us from the inside out. He makes us on the inside what we really want to be and what he made us to be in the first place. It's by His grace through Jesus Christ's death on the cross and Resurrection. He changes us from our "ugly" state and makes us righteous. And it will start to show on the outside, maybe not right away, but eventually people will notice that something is different with this person. They don't act like they used to, seem like they have inner peace, their faces and eyes have a glimmer in them....
And what becomes important to people like that is to be close to their new-found Savior and Lord, to do what's pleasing to him and to be with him in heaven.
They are a new creation and start to mirror God just a little, and then more and more....
What to concentrate on
Come to him, who has the power to change us from the inside out.
Come to him, who doesn't judge you by what you are on the outside.
Come to him for FORGIVENESS.
Come to him who loves you for you.
Come to him who wants to make you rich, but not rich in worldly possessions, but fill you with the true riches, so you can say with the apostles, having nothing, yet possessing everything.
Come to him, who will bless you with super abounding grace, save you by his grace and keep you by his grace and bring you home by his grace.
Change of goals
Draw near to him and He will draw near to you.
Humble yourself before Him, and he will exalt you.
Ask for forgiveness, and he will forgive you.
Ask him to save you, ask for His Holy Spirit and ask him to lead you by his Spirit.
Ask him to change you, from the inside out.