“You can dress him up, but you can’t take him anywhere.” You’ve probably heard that statement used to describe someone, or maybe it has been used to describe you. It is a reference to the fact that no matter how fancy someone looks on the outside, they are still the same “messy” person on the inside. Do you really think behavior or attitudes change simply because someone is wearing a tuxedo or a lovely gown?

When our daughters were younger, every year I looked forward to coloring eggs. First the eggs were hard boiled and then they got painted and dyed fancy colors. Sometimes the girls had more dye on them than on the eggs. The dull white shell was transformed into an array of bright colors. But the “inside” anatomy of the egg, the yolk, albumen, chalazae, air cell, and membranes has not changed. The egg is still an egg, only the “outside” has changed.

Now we enjoy that same activity with our two granddaughters.

When we commit our lives to Jesus, He is not interested in changing us on the outside, simply dressing us up. Instead, He wants to change us on the inside. Real change only happens from the inside out, not the other way around. And no matter how hard we try, we cannot really change ourselves. Sure, we can tweak here and there, but because of our inherited sin nature (Ecclesiastes 7:20, 1 John 1:8), the real change we need can only come through a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we become “cleaned up and dressed up on the inside.”

The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel shared these words of the LORD to the people – “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

And God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, said this – “I will give them a new heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart” (Jeremiah 24:7).

David, in Psalm 51:10, asked this of God – “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

In Isaiah 64:8 we are told that God is the potter and we are the clay.

Jesus died on the cross to give you new life, both eternally and also while you still have breath in your lungs. (Romans 6:4, John 3:16) So, today, if you want to be more than dressed up in fancy clothes or more than a brightly decorated Easter egg, then ask Jesus to change you on the inside. Ask Him to give you a new heart, a pure heart, and put a new spirit in you.

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Do you eat a healthy and well-balanced breakfast? Many doctors and nutritionists consider breakfast to be the most important meal of the day because it breaks the overnight fasting period and replenishes your body with essential nutrients to give you energy throughout the day. What you eat, or don’t eat, for breakfast often affects what and how much you eat the rest of the day.

A little trivia – do you know why it is called breakfast? The word breakfast literally means “breaks the fast” that occurred during your period of sleep.

Are you the least bit curious as to why the noontime meal in called lunch? Lunch is a relatively new concept, and it is an abbreviation of the word “luncheon,” which is derived from the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) word nunchin, meaning “noon drink.”

Okay, your interest is piqued, so how about the origin of supper, or it is dinner? During the 18th and 19th centuries when society was primarily an agrarian (agricultural) society, the main meal, called dinner (“to dine”) was eaten at midday, which would give the farmers a boost of energy for the afternoon. A smaller evening meal, called supper, meaning “to sup,” often consisted of light soup that had cooked throughout the day. As societal norms changed, and as people began working away from home and on the farm, it became hard to have the main meal at midday, so a smaller meal became the norm for midday and the main meal shifted to the evening.      

At our house, a typical weekday breakfast usually consists of some mix of the following – bagels and cream cheese, English muffin and butter, cereal, milk, juice, fruit, banana, water, hot tea or coffee. Just as eating a healthy breakfast fuels our body up for the day, spending time with God each morning is also critical to fueling up our soul for the day. In Psalm 5:3 we read, “In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and expectantly wait.”

Elsewhere in Psalms we find these words – “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Psalm 90:14). To my knowledge, this is the only psalm uniquely attributed to Moses. 

Jesus knew the importance of spending time alone with God in the morning – “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35).

So, today I ask – Are you starting your day off on a good note, eating healthy and spending time with God? To borrow the tagline from the General Mills cereal Wheaties, now that is “The Breakfast of Champions.” 

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Do you find yourself in a situation that has you feeling dry and dehydrated? A job that has unrealistic demands. An aging parent that requires constant care. A kid that has flown off the rails. You or a loved one with an ongoing health issue. The death of a spouse that created a crater-sized hole in your soul. An addiction. Finances. Maybe it is trying to process the ever-changing uncertain world around us.    

You feel exhausted. You feel lost. You might have even lost a sense of who you are. The joy of life is only wishful thinking. Whether or not you find yourself in one of those situations, maybe today for whatever reason you are desperately in need of a drink to quench your thirst.

Dehydration is the absence of sufficient fluid (water) in our body. It occurs when we lose more fluid than we take in. We usually associate dehydration with excessive heat, but cold air can also lead to dehydration. When our body is dehydrated, it cannot function properly and causes serious health problems. Severe dehydration (15-25% loss of body water) can even lead to death. Some symptoms of dehydration are headaches, dizziness, tiredness, lack of appetite, flushed skin, high heart rate but low blood pressure, dark-colored urine.

Life, even when things are not necessarily hard, has a way of leaving our soul feeling dehydrated. Soul (spiritual) dehydration tends to leave us feeling fatigued, lonely, irritable. In those times we often fill our lives with busyness or noise, often simply to “hide” the empty feeling, the restlessness, the decreasing sense of peace.

There are a number of things we can change, begin doing, or stop doing, to hydrate our soul. But, for me, in those times of dehydration, before anything else works, I first need to take Jesus up on his invitation to come and drink. In John 7, Jesus travels to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. He faces the possibility of arrest and there is much debate as to the legitimacy of his true Messiahship. It is in that context where Jesus offers this great invitation – On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (v.37).

Side note: The earliest Greek manuscripts do not have John 7:53-8:11. Using textual criticism, it is believed by many biblical scholars that these verses were inserted into John’s Gospel at some later date. The writing style of those verses differs from John’s typical style and the text flows well without those verses (meaning 7:52 then picked up at 8:12).

The invitation to drink comes freely to us, every time we need a drink. In Isaiah 55, the prophet describes the invitation of God to receive, among other things, restoration. We find these words in the first two verses – “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”

And near the end of the Bible, in Revelation 22:17, we are invited to “drink freely from the water of life.” 

Today, when you feel dehydrated, when you are physically thirsty, pour yourself a glass of cold water and drink from it. And when your soul is thirsty, take Jesus up on His invitation, then drink and drink and drink from His cool and refreshing spring. It is at that peaceful stream that you will find life-giving hydration! 

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A number of years ago, while driving along the Gulf Coast of Florida, on the way to visit my wife’s parents, we unexpectedly encountered swarms of bugs that created dangerous driving conditions for us and every other car on the road. These bugs (flies), known as lovebugs, pair together with a mate, attach themselves to one another, and fly in tandem, hence, the affectionate name given to them. They are attracted to the fumes emitted from vehicles, often surrounding moving cars so thickly as to create a cloud, many getting splattered onto windshields and grills of those vehicles, thus making visibility all but impossible.

Lovebugs are only really a nuisance during their two mating seasons, spring and late summer. Most of their life cycle is spent as larvae, they only have a life span of a three or four days, but if you travel through the humid climate of Florida during those few days, beware. Not only do lovebugs affect driving visibility, but they can also do damage to your car’s engine and paint. As soon as we got to our destination, with our windshield and hood splattered with bugs, we were instructed to go straight to the car wash.

Maybe you have not encountered lovebugs, but I am sure you have driven when your windshield became dirty due to old wiper blades or your washer fluid reservoir being empty. When dirt and grime build up on your windshield, it is hard to see the road in front of you, making driving dangerous and unsafe. Clean windshields make driving both easier and safer.  

Just as dirty windshields hinder our ability to see the road in front of us, dirty hearts also hinder us from seeing God. In the Beatitudes, Jesus says this – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). In this verse, the Greek word for “pure” (katharos) means purified, clean, unstained from guilt, free from the contaminating influences of sin. Notice what is doesn’t say – perfect. Instead, being pure in heart means having an uncompromised desire to please God, one with no hidden motives. We cannot “see” God with our physical eyes (Colossians 1:15), but in my understanding, “seeing God” is fellowship with Him that goes beyond ordinary sight, having a supernatural perception of His presence.

It is God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, who purifies our heart. Our purity comes as we in faith obey (a word we do not like in the 21st century) God’s Word and trust in the promises that flow out of the finished work of Christ (1 Peter 1:22-23).

After his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and his conniving scheme to cover it up (read 2 Samuel 11) was exposed by the prophet Nathan, here is what David cried out, found in Psalm 51:10-12 – “Create in me a clean [pure] heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

So, I ask you, do you have a dirty windshield (heart) that is keeping you from seeing the unimaginable beauty of God? If so, today, and every day, ask God to shape in you a pure heart, and by doing so, a clean windshield that allows you to see God clearly?

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Today we will be confronted with a number of decisions. Some big, others small. When you were getting dressed this morning you decided whether to wear tan or blue. For breakfast, you might choose between cornflakes and fresh fruit, or maybe a less healthy option, grabbing two donuts and an energy drink on the way to work. Throughout the day you will need to decide which tasks to do today and which to postpone until another day.

While those are often important decisions, they are also sometimes done without too much thought, many with little or no impact on your future. Decisions like where to go to college, who to date or marry, where to live, what job to take are not quite as easy, and the choices you make quite possibly will have long-term consequences. Are you seeking God’s wisdom and counsel when making those decisions?

Still other decisions are a choice between right and wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice. Sometimes those decisions require us to stand alone, to go against the flow, to swim upstream.

We must decide whether we will be faithful to God, often meaning we swim upstream, or to go with the crowd by swimming with the current. A new business deal smells a little fishy. It could be very lucrative but also violates a number of your principles. “That’s just how business works” is what crosses your mind. It’s late at night, the family is in bed, and you cannot sleep so you sit at your computer and look at sexually graphic images. “What can it really hurt; I’m just trying to relax so I can sleep.” You know in your heart that much of what is going on in society around you is wrong, it goes against everything biblical, but the crowd you hang with sees it differently, so in order to avoid conflict and fit in, you say nothing and remain quiet.

The Bible tells us that Satan is active in this world and loves nothing more than to trip us up, causing us to sin and turn our backs on God. In 1 Peter 5:8 we read this warning: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

The Holy Spirit, who resides within every follower of Jesus, can equip and guide us in all we do and say, both in the big and the little. Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit guides us into God’s will (Psalm 143:10), guides us to live according to God’s Word (Ezekiel 36:27), guides us away from sin (Galatians 5:16) and into truth (John 16:13).  

The writer of Hebrews ends the book this way: “Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (13:20-21).

In this fallen and sinful world, in order to follow Jesus, we must always be swimming upstream, requiring us to go against the flow. So, today, I ask you and me, which direction are we swimming?

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Do you ever feel trapped with no place to turn? After graduation from college, my wife, who then was my girlfriend, was hired as the director of a drop-in center for kids. One of her duties was organizing and taking the kids on field trips. Her predecessor had previously scheduled a caving expedition for that summer. Despite my wife’s trepidation for being in confined spaces, she kept the activity on the calendar. I too am not fond of small spaces, but when you are in love, you agree to do just about anything. So, I volunteered to be her co-pilot for this activity. At least it wasn’t walking through a den of snakes. In retrospect, that might have been a better option.

Entering the cave on our hands and knees was not too difficult and the light on our helmets illuminated the dark damp tunnel through which we crawled. Once inside the cave, we assumed we would come upon a chamber that would allow us to stand up and turn around, but no, not in this cave. So, in order to get back out, we had to crawl backwards. The tunnel sure seemed longer and narrower than on the journey in. My heart was racing, and I just hoped we would get out before the search party came looking for us. After what seemed like hours, we finally got back the cave’s entrance. Daylight has never looked so good! The kids really enjoyed the experience, but for us, not so much. 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you felt you were trapped and there was no escape route? Imagine that you and some friends decide to spend a Saturday exploring those same caves. Since you are an experienced spelunker, you want to be well prepared, so before entering the cave you put on all your personal protective gear, put fresh batteries in your flashlights and obtain the most current cave survey map to guide you through the tunnels and passages.

After several hours in the caves, you are ready to head back to daylight, only to find that you have somehow lost the map. On top of that, the batteries in your flashlights have run out, so it is extremely dark in that cave. In that moment, fear sets in and you feel trapped inside the cave with no way out. Sometimes in life we have that same fear or panic when we feel threatened, or something does not go as planned and we find ourselves feeling scared and trapped.

The Bible tells us that God is always faithful, ready to throw a lifeline to those who are in danger. In Psalm 18 King David so beautifully describes how God rescued him from the hand of his enemies. The psalm starts off in the first three verses with praise to God for who He is. The next two verses go on to tell of the extreme danger David faced, and by the language he used, it sounds real and imminent. Maybe you face a real threat today and these words speak of your fear – “The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me” (vv. 4-5). 

Verse 6 tells us that David cried out for help and that God heard his cry – “In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.”

In verses 7-15 we read that God came to David’s rescue. And in verses 16-19 we read these wonderful words – “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes who were too strong for me. They confronted me in my day of disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”

The rest of this psalm narrates the grounds for God’s help (vv. 20-29), continues with a recounting of God’s rescue (vv. 30-45), and finishes up with a doxology in verses 46-50. With a few minor variations in wording and phrasing, this rescue narrative is also found in 2 Samuel 22.

So, when you find yourself deep inside a dark and wet cave with no place to turn, call out to God, reach for his lifeline, and trust that He is capable of bringing you into a spacious place.

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