Looking good on the inside

As you grow older, the inside becomes more important than the outside.

As our bodies age, we realize that beauty is more than "skin deep".

In the Old Testament, God gives Samuel the assignment to find and anoint a new king. 

What was the job description?

He tells Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things man look at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

More and more, I want to look good on the inside.

I desire my inward appearance to show.

God wants us to be "good looking" on the inside.

Let me use the Thanksgiving turkey as an illustration.

I love Thanksgiving turkey.

But my first love is the stuffing inside the turkey (Debbie does this just right - I can't wait).

The dressing gets jam-packed inside the turkey.  It is filled with its own herbs and spices and so takes on a flavor all its own.

The dressing gets stuffed inside the turkey and put inside the oven.

While both the turkey and the stuffing (boy am I getting hungry now) cook, the flavor of the stuffing slowly permeates the turkey, making it more flavorful than what it would have been on its own. 

The turkey becomes tastier because of the effect of what is on the inside.

Most of us are interested in the turkey, God is interested in the stuffing.  He is interested in making the inside tasty and letting the internal flavor affect the outside.

I know of Christians who spend 45 minutes getting their "outside" looking good for Sunday morning services, but not 45 seconds on the inside.

Today, how much time have you spent getting your "inside", "looking good"?

Prayer.  Reading the Word.  Listening to praise music.  Thinking positive thoughts. 

In an age of appearance - where everything is based on the outward - let's be counter-cultural and ask the Holy Spirit to make us "good looking" on the inside.

Just a thought for a Wednesday.