When eating a peanut, we discard the shell, but that shell is not less important than what lies on the inside. An egg operates in the same manner, as without the shell, it would be incredibly difficult to preserve the egg white and egg yolk on the inside. Additionally, it would be incredibly difficult to transport! Our human bodies exist similarly, both in a spiritual and a physical sense. The epidermis, or outside covering of the body, helps to protect the inner organs, muscles and blood vessels. Yet if someone gets skin cancer, we cannot survive simply by peeling all of the skin away. Our outer shell gives us shape!
Yet the inside is significant, especially in a spiritual sense. No matter how many layers that we build up on the outside, that does not change who we are on the inside.
“A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don’t know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox’s or bear’s, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.”
--Meister Eckhart, German theologian (1260-1328)
As Christians, we should be cautious not to let the dirt of the world build up so thickly on our exteriors that we resemble the world more than we resemble our Lord. That exterior shell needs to change as completely as the heart on the interior when we give our lives to the Lord, though it is not an overnight process. What should others see when they look on the outside of a Christian?
12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Colossians 3:12-17
Because only God can see the motives behind our actions and see inside the heart, we are to “put on” tender mercies, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another, and most importantly, love. Those attributes can soften the hard heart of another, just as God’s love softened our hearts as believers. David’s prayer was the same as all of us when we came to the Lord:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
The inward change that God gives us instantly is a clean heart, yet the dirty mind needs to go, too. Otherwise, we are throwing out the baby with the bath water! Renewal is that process of being born again. Walking daily with the Lord helps us to peel off those exterior coats that disguise the heart within.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:1-2
When renewal transcends the heart and journeys to the mind, then we begin to walk with the Lord in a manner that reflects His attributes, rather than our own attributes. Once again, this is a process that involves daily prayer, daily Bible study and daily fellowship with the Lord and His people. Without that trio, we all tend to fall back to the ways of the world. Instead of having tender mercies we are judgmental and harsh in our punishment. Instead of being kind, we are cruel. Instead of being humble, we are filled with pride and ego. Instead of being meek, we are out of control with rage. Instead of exhibiting longsuffering, we are quick to anger. Instead of bearing with one another, we turn our backs on anyone who requires work or extra effort. Instead of forgiving others, we carry the residual of pain of how they hurt us. Instead of love, we hate.
Satan attempts to copy God, yet his attributes reveal his nature as the anti-Christ. Without the presence of God dwelling within us, we cannot exhibit the Lord’s attributes. First, we need to get through that hard exterior and see who God wants us to be on the inside. Then, we need to let that exterior become more than protection and transportation for our hearts. Let your actions reflect the heart change that God already has accomplished!
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
1 John 3:18-19
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