The Outside-Inside Upside

UV 4171/10000 The Outside-Inside Upside You ( spiritually) blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and plate ( examine and change your inner self to conform to God’s precepts), so that the outside ( your public life and deeds) may be clean also. Matthew 23 v 26 The upside of the outside-inside divide in the human being is that it is possible to turn around our topsy turvy values once we give priority to God in our lives. Then, the things that really matter, the internal and the eternal will begin to rule, dominate, lead, guide the external, the superficial, the behavioural, the material aspects of our lives. Jesus, the Author of Life, of Human Life, the Human mind in the uni-verse points out to the priestly class and to us, here and now, that the inside of the human being needs to be first cleaned. We need to conform to God’s precepts and image in our inner being. There are ways to do it in our everyday life. We need to lean on God, glean from His word daily in order to keep our inside clean. The outer world dirties us even as a child playing in mud cannot avoid being dirty and getting his clothes muddy, too. The Lord has given us pure white clothes or robes of salvation in Christ, the Word. We need to purify our insides, too to be pure, holy, wholesome, worthy of Christ. We can wash ourselves with His word which is the water of eternal life. We need to mind our minds more than even our business. The word renews our minds on a daily basis. It recharges our minds, revitalizes our thoughts, emotions, intentions. We need to take every thought captive to Christ by arresting any negative thoughts, attitudes, feelings then and there, at the starting point. We need to arrest bad actions, gestures, reactions, habits since we are to have the mind of Christ. Our minds need to conform not to the negative patterns of this world but the positive, wholesome patterns of His word. Saturating our minds with His word, filling it with His thoughts and thoughts of Him is a way to incarnate the Resurrected Redeemer in our lives. The ROI or return on intelligence is immense, infinite when we absorb the wisdom of the word in the things we need to do, the things we need to avoid, the choices we need to make, the choices we need to abhor or avoid. Instead of getting baked to the moulds of this world, the living, active, powerful, life-giving and enhancing patterns of the word will shape our character, our communication and even our career.