This Outer Tent
I have missed all of you! I started a new job today, so that's why I didn't get back on my blog as expected. My life needed rearranging to get ready to go back to work. As I lay awake last night, unable to sleep, I talked (in my head so I wouldn't wake my husband:) to the Lord. After a wonderful, but food-filled two weeks with my family, I managed to pack on four pounds! The problem is that those four pounds already had friends from previous food indulgences over the last couple of months:(
So Lord, now what, since my buttons are literally popping off my pants? He, of course, didn't talk out loud either, but I felt He was reminding me to take my focus off my exterior looks and pay more attention to my inner beauty and spiritual growth. He reminded me that we don't care about the husks on the corn, the peel on the grapefruit (and some other things that I remembered at 3:00am, but have been lost since:). He said that those exterior coverings are simply to protect the inner fruit or vegetable which are the important part of the plant.
What I got out of this late night picture was a reminder that our exterior, although praised by people, is simply a vessel for the Holy Spirit and as such, should be cared for, to the extent that it be kept healthy so the Spirit can continue to do His work in and through me to help others hear about Jesus and choose eternal life. Eternal life in heaven will be so sweet and precious without outer tents or bodies to bind us to sin and decay.
So Lord, now what, since my buttons are literally popping off my pants? He, of course, didn't talk out loud either, but I felt He was reminding me to take my focus off my exterior looks and pay more attention to my inner beauty and spiritual growth. He reminded me that we don't care about the husks on the corn, the peel on the grapefruit (and some other things that I remembered at 3:00am, but have been lost since:). He said that those exterior coverings are simply to protect the inner fruit or vegetable which are the important part of the plant.
What I got out of this late night picture was a reminder that our exterior, although praised by people, is simply a vessel for the Holy Spirit and as such, should be cared for, to the extent that it be kept healthy so the Spirit can continue to do His work in and through me to help others hear about Jesus and choose eternal life. Eternal life in heaven will be so sweet and precious without outer tents or bodies to bind us to sin and decay.
Cutting away the thick rind of the watermelon exposes the tender fruit.
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
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