Beneath the Surface

When we read this, I think many times we are picturing other people looking at us and judging us. And other people do judge us by what they see on the surface. But many times we don’t stop and think that we judge ourselves far too many times by what we see on the surface as well.

In recovery, and in our Christian walk in general, as we're dealing with spiritual strongholds, we need to thank God on a daily basis that He DOES work from the inside out, and that He does look at the inward man and not just the outward man. Because when God's looking on the inward man, He's just going ahead and getting past all the superficial stuff.

He's just going on down to the root. We all know that we can make stuff look pretty good on the outside, sometimes for long periods of time, but even when all that is happening, we know what's going on on the inside. The real struggles are happening inside anyway. So thank God he looks there, starts there, and doesn't waste time on what doesn't really matter initially.

God starts with the things that are eternal first, and then moves to the external. Yes, he woos us and courts us with our general wants, because we don’t know any better. Then after we come into a saving relationship with Him, He takes care of our needs first, and then moves to our real wants. Our needs are the things that allow us to truly begin living, not just breathing. Him meeting our needs allows us to be able to look beneath the surface and begin to slowly like what we see on the inside. Him meeting our real wants allows us to start liking what we see on the outside. We can begin being comfortable within our own skin. We can begin not just living, but living abundantly.

That, I feel, is the main essence of what Jesus was saying in John 10:10 (ESV) when he says:

The abundant life begins inside when we, through Christ Jesus, take back what was stolen, breathe life into what was dead, and restore what was destroyed by Satan.