Living Inside Out

Galatians 2:20, "I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." When my daughter was younger, one of her favorite cartoon shows to watch was called, "Inside Out Boy". I think it played on LPB, but don't quote me on that. It was the story of a little boy, whose body was inside out. All of his organs, muscles and vessels were on the outside of his body. He went around teaching kids about how to be healthy. A little strange, but obviously interesting to kids, because she loved it. Can you imagine how it would be to live like that? This past month, my pastor did a sermon series called, "Tents". Excellent. One of the sermons, within the series, had to do with examining your own "tent". He said that we are like tents, and asked us to do a "tent inspection". To evaluate within ourself, what it is that only God can see. He made many key points, but one stuck out more than the others. He said, "We don't want anything in our tent, that would make Jesus uncomfortable." Wow! For a few seconds, I felt naked. I felt like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, running to find some fig leaves, to cover up their sin. I was convicted. I refer to being convicted in my own life as...A Revelation to The God I Call Me! Meaning..as good as I think I might be walking, I can always walk better. Don't ever get too high on your horse, because God has a sweet and gentle way, of nudging you right off of it. This was one of those moments. I was on the ground, and off my horse. There I sat, alone in my sin. Or so it felt that way, even though there were a few hundred people sitting all around me. I felt as though, it was just me and God, and we were both looking down at my sin. I had tried to cover it up, but He knew it was there all along. Sort of like, when you put your hand in the cookie jar, and you thought no one was looking, then you hear a "Uhhumm", from behind you, only to see your mother standing there. Yep..that was me! My tent was full of "stuff". I was hiding it, as though I lived alone in my tent, and no one else could see it. All along forgetting, that many years ago, I invited Jesus into my heart...and He was seeing all of me. All of me! What if we were to live like Inside Out Boy? What if our insides were on the outside of our bodies? What would people see? What would you see? I think that we should all try it...living inside out. Live as though, everyone around us can see everything we have on the inside. What would our hearts hold? Would other people see our love for them, or our hate? What would be laying on our minds? Would they see the way we want to help them, or our gossip? What would our thoughts look like? Would people see our compassion for them, or our judgement and self-righteousness? Would anyone see Jesus? Would they see the Son Of God residing within us, or the religion we borrow just to get by? I truly believe that if we all lived like that, we would be quick to make some changes. Well, why not now? Why not live like that now? Let's face it, we are a sinful people. But, God gives us a chance to be new every day, through realtionship with His son Jesus. Through Jesus, we have the ability to live a clean life in a dirty world. One day, we will all stand before God, our Father and Creator, and we will be "inside out", "naked", and "alone". Will He see Jesus? I encourage you today, to live inside out!! Empty out the old stuff, become fresh and new. It's time for some spiritual Spring Cleaning! Let's clean up God's house! Let the world see where you and Jesus live. Psalms 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me."