Yesterday, I saw a picture of an apple in front of a mirror. If you look directly at the mirror the apple appears to be ripe, shiny, and beautifully in season. However, if you look at the entire apple, you will notice that from the back side, the apple is withering and rotting away. So often, we want people to think that we are shiny and perfect on the outside, when in fact the full picture is entirely different.
None of us are perfect. Over the last two days we’ve been in scripture that has revealed perfection is only found in Jesus. He is the only perfect and sinless One Who invites us to be cleansed of our sins. We have the opportunity to live in Jesus’s perfect presence through an ongoing relationship with Him. It’s a humble invitation from the bridegroom, that requires our simple acceptance.
When we enter into a relationship with Jesus, the only way it can be successful is through an ongoing commitment of true change. Let’s be honest, change is not easy for most of us. In fact, many of us avoid change, and if we change anything at all it’s our appearance for others to think that we’ve changed. But Jesus knows our hearts, and in today’s passage, He is warning us that we are to be growing and changing for Eternity in our relationship with Him now. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit with me” (Psalm 51:10); help me, O God, to stop wasting time and energy on the past, on fear, anxiety, anger, guilt, shame, and any other feels that the enemy wants to use, with in me and my soul, to take my gaze off of Jesus. I stand firmly again the work of the enemy and I fixate my spiritual eyes on You, Jesus.
Matthew 9:14-17 NLT
A Discussion about Fasting
14 One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?”
15 Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
16 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.
17 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”
Prayer: Jesus, thank You for our relationship. Help me to seek ways to continue to grow in my part. I also want to keep changing into my new self with You, Jesus. So, please help me to lay down any part of my old self that still needs to go. I ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.