Inside Out

Good morning,
 
At her launch in 1936, the Queen Mary was the largest ship to sail the oceans. She served faithfully for four decades, even through a world war, until she was retired in a Long Beach, California harbor.

They converted her into a museum and hotel after repairs and a face lift.  As they removed the smoke stacks for a new paint job they crumbled apart.  There was nothing left of the ¾-inch steel plates that had once formed the stacks. All that remained were more than thirty coats of paint, which had been applied over the 40 years she was at sea. The steel had rusted away and left the stacks without substance.
 
 Jesus told the Pharisees they were like "...white washed tombs...".  There was no substance.  In a word, they had only a face lift to impress others around them.

Oh that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, would never lack the real thing, as did the smoke stacks on Queen Mary! As children of the King, we must "first clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean" (Matthew 23:26).

The Scripture says God does not look at outward appearances or the things that man looks at, but instead He looks at the heart (see 1 Samuel 16:7).  Jesus is the One who can help us with both our outward condition, and the inward condition of our totally surrendered heart.  "If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  1 John 1:9
 
From his hymn, Rock of Ages, Augustus Toplady also gives us understanding of this great work of Jesus in our life.  For he wrote:
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee
Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed.
Be for sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure."
                                                         
May the Lord bless and keep you today, and never forget that you are loved!!!
 
Henry