Fasting

January 22, 2015

Are you living inside out?


Have you ever been in a hurry, thrown your clothes on quickly and not realized until you were at school or work or the grocery store that your shirt was inside out? There’s just something that makes you feel exposed when you wear your clothes inside out. The seams are showing, the place where you tore the shirt and had to mend it is showing, and the tag is hanging out telling everyone where you bought the shirt and what size it is.

We don’t like to wear our clothes inside out because it exposes what is underneath. In the same way, we often try to hide what is really inside us because we don’t want the truth about ourselves to be exposed. But we can’t be who we are supposed to be in God until we start living inside out.

Acts 17:6 says this about Paul and Silas: “These who have turned the world upside down have come here, too.” We will never turn the world upside down until we begin to consistently live inside out. It doesn’t matter how much you go to church or how spiritual you act or how big your Bible is. What is on the inside is what really matters because what is on the inside is who you really are, even though other people may not see it. Only about 20% of an iceberg can be seen above the water. About 80% remains hidden underwater. You may not see that hidden 80% of the iceberg but it’s there and it matters. People may not see what is hidden in your private life, but it’s there and it matters to God. Your character – the person you are when no one else is looking – matters to God. Your integrity and purity matters to God. Who are you on the inside?

Is your heart clean? Are you willing to let God go deep, to let Him clean out everything that doesn’t bring Him glory? We don’t mind coming to church and looking religious because that allows us to keep God and everyone else from going beyond the surface and discovering our bad attitudes, bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, addictions and secret sin. Are you willing to let God cleanse everything inside you? When you get clean on the inside and start living inside out, God will release His glory on your life.

It’s easy to fool other people about what is really inside you. But it’s impossible to fool God. He sees what is in your heart. As you fast, offer everything in your heart – the good and the bad – to God. He will change what is inside you so that you can turn the world upside down by living inside out.

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