Inside Out part 5
A lot of stuff happened on the mount of transfiguration. And I'm not going to get into all of it here in this Rant. But I do want to look at Matthew 17:2 from the Message Bible, because I think it really encapsulates what this Rant series has been all about. "His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes were filled with light." What was inside revealed itself--or manifested itself--on the outside. Sunlight--or Sonlight--poured from His face. The light of the world shined brightly. Shined in and through and out of Jesus. Just as it shines in and through and out of us! And the key is faith. Simply knowing and believing that the light is in there. Not trying to turn the light on, through works and labor, but resting in the truth that Jesus--the light of the world--lives in us! Look at Revelation 21:23, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Now who is the city of New Jerusalem? WE ARE! And if we don't need the light of the sun or the moon that says to me that outside circumstances are not dictating our reality to us. We don't need natural light--or artifical light because, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). The Lamb is the light thereof. The Lamb IS the Word of God. Jesus, or God in the flesh (OUR flesh), or love in a body, IS the Word of God. That's what lights our path. Love! That's what shines so brightly when we stop trying so hard to be somebody we're not. When we start resting in the love of the Father--that's already inside us--it comes out of us! And then the outside matches the inside. Our behavior always matches our beliefs, because our behavior flows from our beliefs. Mark 1:8 in the Message Bible says it like this, "I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism--a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit--will change you from the inside out." The Holy Spirit. Our love receptor. Not God finally loving us--because He always has and always will--but us finally being able to receive His love. Something too good to be true that seemed far away and needed to be earned... has been revealed to be inside of us all along! Not too good to be true, but so good that it MUST be true! The shining of the light of the world has brought the inner man--the hidden man of the heart--to the surface. So that we are changed from the inside out. The hidden man of the heart is no longer hidden under the appearance of natural circumstances. The Word lights our path and shows us the Way to go. Shows us the Way that Jesus went both for us and as us on the cross! Shows us the change that took place, and brings that change to life as we mature in the knoweldge of who He is in us and who we are in Him! That's what it means to be changed from inside out. What's in... comes out. Love manifests!