“I am not going to get angry anymore. No, really I’m not. This time I really mean it! I AM NOT GOING TO GET ANGRY!!”

Whenever we want to change something about ourselves, the direct approach is usually the way we choose to go. We try “willpower.” It might as well be “won’tpower” because the direct method almost never works. We can’t convince ourselves to change. For awhile it may be possible. Then we come under stress and our changes change back. The harder we try the more frustrated we get. What is the problem?

The problem is commonly labeled, “Self-help.” We are told by every magazine article that we can do it. Go to Borders and check out the self-help section. If you can’t lose weight/ be friendlier/ be more confident in five easy steps, then there must be something wrong with you. “After all,” the author seems to say, “If I did it and wrote a book about it, then you can, too. Not write the book, of course, but you can change.”

So, why don’t you?

To change from the inside out doesn’t last on our own power. We need something more. Recovery groups like AA know this to be true. They teach that you have to give yourself over to a higher power to be sober. You can’t fight unhealthy behavior directly. Alcoholics can stop drinking when they place their trust outside of themselves. This is a great start. If they want to do more than just get sober, they can live a transformed life when they give their lives to Jesus.

Jesus designed us and so, naturally, he holds the key to lasting change.

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Did you know there is no such thing as “science”? There are many different fields called “sciences” but there is no theory that wraps them all together. Though there are some scientists who make claims for a “theory of everything,” no one has come close.

Did you know that about 96% of the universe is composed of two things that astrophysicists label “dark matter” and “dark energy”? We know they are there but we can’t see them or directly measure them. In other words only about 4% of what most astrophysicists trust exists can be observed and directly measured. The other 96% is assumed based on evidence of its effect. It appears that the vast majority of existence is considered reality through trust based on evidence. Trust based on evidence. Does that sound familiar? It should. This is a good definition of faith!

What if God is real? What if God is the creator of all reality? Then if the sciences are considered our ultimate guide to all of existence we miss out on the very center of life, God himself. God is not physical, yet God exists. If God exists then there are dimensions to our lives that may not be physical but they are real. If God is real then an education based on the sciences alone would miss out on the most important information of all. Knowledge of God would be absolutely essential. Without thinking about God,  we would be, well, uneducated.

How can we have any knowledge of God if we can’t see him?

We don’t seem to have trouble claiming knowledge of a lot of stuff we can’t see. Like, maybe, 96% of everything?

What are reasons people give for not thinking there is a God? Which argument is the strongest?

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It’s always hilarious when you see a news account of people who look like their dogs. There is research done on this topic and it reveals that chances are it is not that dogs and their owners (sorry, “caregivers” in LA) resemble each other over time. It is more likely that the dog owner consciously or unconsciously chooses a pet with similar characteristics. We have a lab/ German shepherd mix named, “Nala.” She is a sweetheart of a dog, like my sweetheart, but when she snarls, she resembles me with the boy’s, on occassion.

With humans I do think we take on the appearance of someone over time. Ourselves. Who we are on the inside begins to reflect more and more on the outside. I remember the story The Picture of Dorian Gray, where a man was able to live a wild and crazy immoral life without affecting him. Booze, sex, destroying the lives of others, you name it, Dorian did it. But it didn’t seem to age him a bit. He stayed the same young, good looking guy. His secret?

He had a painting that would take in all his sin. It was a portrait that got uglier and more sinister looking. I won’t give away the ending because I want you to read the story, but let’s just say Dorian found out the truth.

You begin to notice that about people. Those of us who have been around a while begin to show who we are on the outside by who we are on the inside. Our faces take on smile lines or frown lines. Anger, like a twisted plastic surgeon, etches pain felt and pain dished out. Botox is no antidote for bile.

So, what do you do? Changing the inside changes the outside. You have a choice in life. There is a God who forgives what’s on the inside so you can be transformed into the kind of person who will shine with his glory on the outside. You are more than just your physical body. How is that?

Stay tuned…

Look closely at your own face. Especially around your eyes and the corners of your mouth. What do you see?

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I am updating the work I did in 2005 adapting Dallas Willard’s Renovation of the Heart as a springboard for personal discipleship, renewal and growth with a couple of teams I am working with. Going through these daily readings will challenge us to move from the inside out. Join in the fun!

Starting at the beginning, we realize we are designed to be in relationship with Jesus. The Christian life is not a set of rules and regulations. The Bible is not a rule book but a description of this way of life. We do not have a list of laws that we follow to become worthy of attention from God. To grow in faith, we live the life we are designed to live and we are transformed from the inside out.

This is the key. From the inside out. We don’t get involved in a flurry of activities that make us acceptable to receive God’s love. We receive God’s love and are open to being changed from the inside out. We don’t do good things to please God. We become the kind of persons who can do good things naturally because we have been transformed. It is out of the “becoming” that the “doing” follows.

What is the most important class you have ever taken? Why was it so key?

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