“A good man out of the good treasure
of his
heart brings forth good;
and an
evil man out of the evil treasure
of his
heart brings forth evil.”
Luke 6:45a
As
a child, I loved exploring small spaces where adults couldn’t go – under beds, beneath
tables, into narrow closets. That’s probably why I also have memories of being
trapped in our laundry chute. But that’s another story.
During
these mini-adventures, I noticed that the ‘underside’ of our family’s tables
were rarely finished. The paint or the varnish covered only narrow strips along
the undersides’ edges, and sometimes I found gluey slips of paper or scribbled
notes in pencil indicating dates of construction or inspection. It was clear to
me, even at that young age, that the ‘finish’ given to these tables was both
cosmetic and targeted; cosmetic, in that it was deemed unnecessary on the
flipside, and targeted, in that it only occurred where the consumer (the adults
– the one’s coughing up the cash to buy the tables) would see it. Even then, I
knew that adults wouldn’t leave those places unfinished if they were looking at
them regularly.
There
was a powerful lesson here for a three-year-old: focus on the externals. Make
sure that what is seen looks good, and don’t waste your time on what remains
unseen.
I
thought about this yesterday as I was doing some painting at the church. I’ve
been putting primer on the walls in the basement, and as I arrived at a section
that would be largely ‘out-of-sight’ for adults, I wondered whether I should
‘waste’ primer on that small section. Was it important that this area appear as
finished as the others? And then I remembered my experience as a three-year-old
and I went ahead and primed it. I don’t want some three-year-old to get the
wrong idea.
We
face a similar challenge in our spiritual lives, don’t we? We all have a
finished exterior – the actions and attitudes that others see. We work on that
finish endlessly, moderating, exaggerating, or subjugating our visible quirks.
We want to look good toward others.
But
there is also an ‘underside’ to us all. It is our ‘innerland,’ an interior
world that lies hidden within. Here, we think the thoughts no one else hears.
And it is easy, too easy, to focus our attentions upon our exteriors and neglect
our interiors.
The
temptation to ignore one’s innerland arises from its perceived inscrutability.
If we consider only the horizontal plane, the relationship between humans, we
realize that our innerland stands firm against accusation or conviction. But
this, of course, is a fleshly consideration that ignores the spiritual
realities of Who God is and what He demands. When we widen our consideration to
include the vertical plane, the relationship between humans and God, we realize
that our innerland stands bare before the gaze of an All-knowing, Absolutely
Holy God. And it can withstand neither His accusation nor conviction.
But
I have overstated the nature of our innerland. Yes, we do have an innerland,
and, yes, it does appear inscrutable, but that appearance is an
illusion. It can remain neither hidden nor inner. Let me explain.
Jesus
taught that the evils we see expressed in, through, and around us, are
expressions of humanity’s innerland. He said it this way: “What comes out of
a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All
these evil things come from within and defile a man." He also taught,
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things,
and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” In
other words, the thoughts of innerland do not remain unexpressed. Evil thoughts
bring forth evil deeds. Good thoughts bring forth good deeds. The appearance of
inscrutability, even from a human perspective, is an illusion.
Theologically
speaking, it seems to me that any separation between humanity’s exterior and
interior experience is a false dichotomy. The exterior ultimately gives
expression to the interior. Men with evil thoughts will produce evil. Men with
good thoughts will produce good.
Now
when it comes to tables, I guess it doesn’t really matter whether the underside
if finished. Most people won’t see the underside, and three-year-old aren’t the
intended audience. But when it comes to our spiritual lives, we would be wise
to remember that God Himself is the ultimate audience. It is He for whom we
move and function, and since He is all-knowing and all-holy, we must
attend to both the interior and the exterior.
But
this little meditation raises one more question: how do we believers
attend to our interior lives – our innerland? How can we work on ‘finishing’
it?
We
do it by reading, studying, and obeying God’s Word – the Bible. As we do this
in a systematic, ongoing way, God’s Holy Spirit works within us to change our
old (non-believing) patterns of thinking and reprogram our thinking to mirror
His. (Ps. 119:1-16; Ps. 119:105; Ps. 119:129-133; 2 Tim. 3:16-17)
Practically
speaking, we attend to our innerland when we…
Set
our minds on the things of God and not on the things of this world (Col. 3:12;
Rom. 8:5-9);
Focus
our minds on things that are good, pure, lovely, right, etc (Phil. 4:8);
Rely
upon the Holy Spirit to illuminate and develop our minds (1 Cor. 2:10-15);
Allow
the Word of Christ to dwell richly within us (Col. 3:16);
Take
every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 10:5; Col. 2:8);
Reject
the thinking of the world and discontinue programming our minds with the
world’s thinking (Acts 19:17-20; Eph. 2:2); and,
Spend
great amounts of time in the Word of God learning His thoughts, ways and
principles. (Eph. 4:20-24; Ps. 119:26-37)
May
God bless you as you strive to maintain the ‘finish’ on your innerland!
“bringing
every thought into captivity
to the
obedience of Christ”
2 Cor.
10:5b
-- Christian Pilet
