Inside Out

     One of my oldest friends (that is to say she has been a friend for a longer time than others, not that we are quite yet old!) is honoring a friend per day via her status updates on Facebook. This particular friend happens to choose a different color from the crayon box for "flesh tone" than me, and her post was honoring someone who had never had any qualms about race during their growing-up years. I made the comment, "What the world would be like if we could all see each other inside out. . ." and that thought has lingered with me.  I have always tried to see others inside out as much as I can, and indeed in my younger days I have even been repulsed by men that other girls swooned over simply because I saw arrogance or cockiness where they saw a pretty face. I have, however, had more recent opportunities to see beyond my own prideful assessment of such people to see the wrongs done them that led up to their haughty demeanor. But back to the point: What if?

     If we could all see each other inside out...

     There would be no race riots. There would be no racial tensions. There would be no race anything, for what we would see would not be skin color but the person of the heart. We would see people as they actually are without making assumptions based on something as trivial and absurd as the amount of melanin in their epidermis. Some of the most beautiful people I know do not share my skin tone and some of the most abhorrent do. The bare fact is, Christ came for all people and all are equally welcome in His Kingdom if they will only surrender their lives to Him as King.

     If we could all see each other inside out. . .

     We would not see the hurt that we received, but rather the hurt that caused our antagonist to lash out in the first place. We would see the pain, the suffering, the sadness of our fellow beings.  We would see the severely beaten boy grown into an overly defensive man. We would see the abused girl grown into a callous woman afraid to open her heart. We would see the sorrow of loss, the abandoned child, the broken heart, the disease; in short, we would see the affliction of our fellows and we could react with greater gentleness when wronged.

     If we could all see each other inside out. . .

     We would see the enslavement to sin and ache for the person bound by it, the person who had not yet been set free by Christ. We could see the torment that addictions cause in the addicted mind and body. We could see the fear and self-consciousness of the critical, the battered and torn self-image of the arrogant, the gaping loneliness of the aloof, and a thousand similar permutations and combinations.
 
     If we could all see each other inside out . . .

     We would also be exposed, our pride on display, the hatefulness of our hearts hung out for all to see. Our words would be chosen more carefully, our thoughts more completely controlled, for self-control would be rather awkwardly thrust upon us by necessity. There would be no self-righteousness, for it would blaze like a beacon of shame. There would be no hidden lusts, no hidden fears, nor hidden motives for all that we are would be naked and unprotected as a hatchling robin. We would be as readable as a book, and no lying to ourselves or rationalization on our part would change it. Our sin would be undeniably visible as sin, neither ornamented to look nicer nor covered up to be hidden. We would be vulnerable to others and they to us. We would be as the Lord wishes us to be.

     For He does see us all inside out... and He chose to suffer and die for us anyway. He saw the venom behind our carefully-constructed smiles. He heard the bite of sarcasm behind our well wishes. He felt the sting of our sharp words and the anguish of our rejection. He knows us intimately, inside and out, for He knit us together in our mother's wombs. He knows our hurt and our sorrow, our joy and our triumph, and He understands our weakness fully. He alone knows our heart when even we, ourselves, do not. He knows when we are honest and when we lie--even when we are lying to ourselves. He knows every secret desire and each and every sin, for nothing is hidden from His sight. And He gave Himself for us even so.

      How can we, if we are honest with ourselves and if we see our own hearts inside out, how dare we reject Him who loves us despite it all? How can we help but adore Him completely and in our adoration relinquish our pride to Him?  And seeing ourselves so stripped of all forms of justification and pretense--seeing the deceitfulness of our hearts laid bare--how can we fail to look at others with kinder eyes and a more forgiving nature? How can we fail to see them inside out?

    

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."

And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."

And he answered, "Say it, Teacher."

"A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt."

And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."

Luke 7:36-43

     Forgiving Father, please give us eyes to see others as You do and not tainted by our own fallen and often selfish perspective. Open our hearts to love relentlessly, just as You have loved us without regard for race, social standing, or overall wellness. May our gratitude for Your ultimate forgiveness and for Your atoning sacrifice suffuse all that we do, and may we forgive others in the same way You have forgiven us. It is in heartfelt appreciation we submit ourselves to You for refining and for use in Your service however You choose. Your will be done in us, Father, as it is in heaven, amen.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.