[CS-FSLUG] "Decorated from the Inside"

[Fred A. Miller]

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#4750 - "Decorated from the Inside"
2 Corinthians 5:17 

Listen to the audio broadcast!
http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/ramhurl?p=pnm&f=/rhm/sounds/awwy/awwy4750.rm

        Last Christmas, a friend gave us one of the most unique ornaments I've 
ever seen. As soon as you see it, you think how beautifully and exquisitely 
this glass decoration is painted. But what's amazing is that none of that 
artwork is on the outside of the ornament. It's been painted entirely on the 
inside! For centuries, the Chinese have perfected this "inside painting." 
Through a small opening in the ornament, the artist repeatedly inserts a 
miniature brush to paint the artwork. The process is painstaking and time 
consuming. It takes two days to paint one ornament, but the result is a 
beautiful, one-of-a-kind miniature masterpiece. 

        I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about 
"Decorated from the Inside." 

        It takes quite an artist to make something beautiful from the inside 
out, and God is the master of that! And every one of us needs His beautifying 
touch because everyone of us carries our share of ugly inside us. And it 
keeps spilling out in our words, our attitude, our treatment of other people, 
and it causes trouble. It causes hurt. 

        It's like there's this Grand Canyon between the person I want to be 
and need to be and the person I really am. The battles are different for each 
of us, but we all battle our dark side; things the people close to me hate, 
things I hate, things God hates. The ugliness of self-centeredness, of our 
destructive anger and the scars we leave with it, the deceit, the passions 
and addictions we can't seem to master - all those things I say and do that 
hurt people I love and often people who don't deserve it. We want to change. 
We can't. 

        And we're frustrated by so many attempts to be the right kind of 
person, to finally find some inner peace, to find a purpose that gives every 
day meaning. We look to religion to help us be what we need to be, but 
there's a problem. Religion basically tries to redecorate us from the outside 
and it keeps coming off! Jesus said of some very religious people in His day, 
"On the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are 
full of hypocrisy and wickedness" (Matthew 23:28). There's some of that in 
all of us. 

        But for those of us who are tired of being one thing on the outside 
and something very different on the inside, for those of us who want to beat 
our darkness and become the person we need and want to be, well for us the 
Bible has liberating good news. It's found in 2 Corinthians 5:17, our word 
for today from the Word of God. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new 
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" The Bible tells us that Jesus 
does what no religion could ever do. Like those Chinese artists, He 
beautifies us on the inside so we're genuinely and permanently changed. 

        All the ugly and dark stuff in our heart is summed up in one Bible 
word - sin - rebellion against God and His laws. I've tried to be the god of 
my own life, and it's not working. That's why Jesus came. Our only hope of 
sin's power being beaten was for God Himself to conquer it, which He did when 
Jesus paid the debt for our sins on the cross. Then when He conquered death 
on Easter Morning, He proved there's nothing He can't conquer. 

        This makeover miracle in your soul begins from the moment you are, as 
that verse said, "in Christ." Not just around Christ, but really belonging to 
Him. He did all the dying for all your sin. What's left is for you to put 
your total trust in Him as your Savior and Deliverer from your sin. I've 
tried to put down in print how to actually begin your relationship with 
Jesus. It's in my booklet, Yours For Life, which I'd like to send to you if 
you're ready for that new beginning. 

        Ask anyone whose let Christ in. When you get Jesus, you start becoming 
a person you never dreamed you could be. He'll make you new on the inside as 
soon as you open the door.

If you're not sure you belong to Jesus, and you would like to make sure today, 
Ron would like to send to you a free copy of the booklet, "Yours for Life: 
How to Have Life's Most Important Relationship."  To read it online, click 
here:
http://www.yoursforlife.net/

OR, to request your free copy of "Yours for Life," click here:
http://www.gospelcom.net/rhm/yours/yflorder.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Discuss today's "A Word With You," post your comments, or encourage others in 
our discussion forum!
http://forums.gospelcom.net/view/rhm/awwy

How can I help support the work of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries?
http://www.gospelcom.net/rhm/support/

To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, 
please visit YOURS FOR LIFE: HOW TO HAVE LIFE'S MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP 
at:
http://www.yoursforlife.net
Or, call 1-888-NEED HIM.

"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft is a daily radio challenge, with 
slice-of-life illustrations and insights - providing practical help on the 
issues that matter most. If your local Christian radio station does not air 
"A Word With You," please let them know how much you value this program. Over 
six years of transcripts are available online, at 
http://www.gospelcom.net/rhm/awwy/

Ron Hutchcraft Ministries is a member of the Gospel Communications Network - 
http://www.gospelcom.net

"A Word With You" is a production of:

Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
http://www.gospelcom.net/rhm/
Email: RHM at hutchcraft.com
Phone: 1-877-741-1200

Copyright (c) 2005, Ron Hutchcraft. Permission to distribute this material via 
email, or individual copies, is automatically granted on the condition it 
will be used for non-commercial purposes, and will not be sold. To reproduce 
"A Word With You" transcripts in any other format, including Internet 
websites, written permission is needed from Ron Hutchcraft.

Copyright (c) 2005, Ron Hutchcraft. Reprinted with permission. "A Word With 
You" is a radio outreach of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.

-- 
The only bug free software from MickySoft is still shrink-wrapped
in their warehouse..."