Innerland Maintenance

“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