Mark Devotions
[Please do read the passage before (or after) reading the devotion.]
The essential nature of a person like true character and spirituality is on the inside, Jesus said. Whatever we do from and on the outside cannot change that essential nature. Thus “doing” the good and right things may give a good impression to people, but doesn’t show the real “you” which is on the inside. Jesus knows what is within all of us (John 2:24) and warns us of the effect of sin-scarring that is scary and horrible. Eventually what is inside will come out in our behavior one way or the other, and cause grief to ourselves and those around us. But that is not the only problem. Our human perception is “dull… (and we) don’t see…” (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4)! Only when we discover the reality of who we really are as Jesus has shown us can we truly open our lives to accept God’s grace that can change us within.
Prayer: Lord, I’m afraid to look into myself with your eyes. Because then I will discover how “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” I am (Revelation 3:17). But you love me too much, and you will not let me exist in a world of self-deception. You show me myself again and again through the eyes of those around me that truly love me. Like the Psalmist I’ve discovered I cannot hide from you. Come into my broken, dying inner self, Lord, I desperately need you. As that song says, “Change my heart oh God; make it ever true. Change my heart oh God; may I be like You.// You are the potter, I am the clay; mold me and make me, this is what I pray.” Amen.
