Upside Down and Inside Out
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
As you and I cast our gaze forward to the year we’re about to step into, I think the biggest mistake we can make is to hope for all the wrong things out of life. Hope for the wrong things, and we’ll be disappointed. Set our hope on the right things and what an adventure it’s going to be!
So, what are you looking for in this new year? – a promotion or a new job or some step upwards?
You see, I think that’s the mistake we make. We focus too much on the vertical axis of life. Life is full of ups and downs. A good year is one with more ups than downs. And a lousy one has more downs than ups.
But what about the horizontal axis? The more I think about and try to understand what Jesus is on about, the more I come to the realisation that He’s not so much interested in getting us on the up and up – that’s not it at all. What He really wants to do is to change us from the inside out.
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
God’s focus is on changing our hearts; on seeing us grow and mature and become wiser and more compassionate. And as that happens, more and more the ups and downs matter less and less. It’s kind of upside down and inside out.
So can I encourage you as you set out on this new year, this new adventure, to make this your greatest priority of all: drawing closer to Jesus. Because as you do, as He changes your heart, as He grows you and matures you and softens you and strengthens you inside out, the ups and downs will matter less and less.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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