Good morning after our big rainstorms in the middle of the night. If the written word seems a little sleep-deprived this morning, that's alright 'cuz the writer certainly feels that way. I took a tour around the house, but everything looked innocent on the outside. No big floods on the inside, but after the downpour around midnight, I felt that something might be a little displaced in the morning to show how much rain we had or some other sign that it wasn't all a bad dream. As I pondered that, I realized that many persons look innocent...on the outside. Serial killers, or sociopaths to use the psych term, often live among their neighbors without raising the slightest alarm. The news reporters have no trouble finding neighbors, friends, and coworkers who had no idea the man was 'capable of such horrific acts'. This is an extreme example of a common failing. We all look innocent on the outside most of the time, but God sees what is going on in our deepest, most secret and well-guarded heart of hearts.
We learn early on in life to put up the white-washed sepulchre in front of our inner dwelling place. People want us to be good kids, good neighbors, good people, but the Bible says there is none who is good. Before we give our lives to Jesus to be reborn, we learn to put up those fronts of public goodness. Back in the days of secretive sin, we obeyed the laws, or at least most of them. We lived under the authority of our government without protesting too loudly or joining in the sign-waving fests. Our complaints about political candidates or elected officials were generally not very serious, more of a passing the time sort of thing. As children, we received a whipping when we deserved one, and so we cannot blame an abused childhood for the occasional fault that slips out in public. We look good to casual observation, but we pilfered office supplies at work, cheated on the speed 'suggestions' put up by the state government, and perhaps took a tax deduction in a so-called grey area. Oh, but those little sins are nothing compared to what went on in our secret thoughts during that time.
God looked past the white-washed public front though... and sent His Son to die for our sins. Everyone looked so very sinful on the inside, and Jesus still sacrificed himself on the cross to save us. How does that make you feel? I have tried to be good enough for Heaven on the outside, and failed. The inside life that no one sees is so much worse, and yet, Jesus died to save me. That is just so, uh, opposite of everything I learned before my rebirth in Christ. Even now, my flesh cannot understand a love so great. Perhaps you have met a skeptic in the world who asked the question, 'What was in it for Jesus?' As far as we can tell from the Bible, nothing but a lot of pain and the horror of separation from His Father. Jesus gained the victory over death, but we gained all the benefits of His victory. Yes, we did - the ones who try so hard to look innocent on the outside while harboring the darkest of thoughts on the inside. It boggles the mind. Praise God for a love so great that we are saved through Christ alone.
Bucky
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