Outside-in or Inside-out?

"And He was saying, 'That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man'" (Mark 20:7)

The essential difference between Christianity and any other religion, beloved, is basically one of direction. Religion as man practices it today all over the world is that of changing one's outward behavior to adapt to a rigid set of moral and ethical rules. And many are quite successful at such adaptation. How often have we heard this religious group or that one commended for their fervency and zeal in living by a strict code of conduct - dress, behavior, social relationships - and even in their seeking of new converts to their belief system? What we are seeing all around us today is evidence of an "outside-in" approach to religious belief and practice.

Jesus, however, in teaching His disciples what the nature of true "religion" is, declared that what is necessary is an "inside-out" approach. Whereas mankind has the tendency to believe that everyone is essentially good on the inside and that life is simply a matter of lining up one's behavior with one's inward goodness, Jesus said that what is on the outside is merely a reflection of what is wrong on the inside! In other words, we don't just have a problem with our "doer," we have a deeper problem with our "want-er"! And Jesus said that what is wrong within every man is sin. As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome so graphically describing this deepest need:

"As it is written, 'There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one'" (Romans 3:10-12)

So much for man's inward goodness, beloved! All of the "outside-in" religious efforts, then, no matter how well-intentioned, will accomplish nothing because there is nothing good on the inside for us to model!

What makes Christianity so unique, then, is that only Jesus Christ promises to change what is wrong on the inside of us so that what we do on the outside becomes a natural reflection of the new creation that He has made us on the inside. The apostle Paul put it so beautifully and clearly when he wrote to the Corinthian church and said:

"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The "outside-in" approach will always be with us, beloved. There will always be those by the thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, who will insist on trying to conform themselves to a rigid code of conduct in hopes that, if they can just follow it closely enough, perhaps somewhere and somehow their notion of eternal life might be possible.

As Christians, what an opportunity is ours today to exhibit by contrast the wondrous change that Jesus Christ can make as we demonstrate His own "inside-out" miracle of spiritual transformation! Because what He makes us on the inside is what people should see on the outside, we can have opportunity to impact our world for Jesus Christ. We are not "religious" because we make ourselves religious by keeping our noses to the proverbial "grindstone." We are Christ-like because by His grace we have been changed forever from the inside out! Thanks be unto God for His indescribable gift! Are you living your life today "inside-out"?

Ron