Change!

"For I am the Lord, I do not change..........................."

Malachi 3:6

So this just in, its winter; and the temperature actually reflects it.  Right now its 32 degrees in Houston, Texas and by midnight the temperatures will drop to 28 degrees.  Its Friday night at 9:00 PM.  I know you're wondering why are we talking about the weather.  Great question, the reality of  how frequent and how drastic the weather changes is a  mere example of how frequent and how drastic we change our minds.  Ladies what about us, how often do we change our clothes before we leave the house, dress after dress, shoe after shoe.  Even our earrings and necklace, does it match, does it enhance our outfit, does it dress it up or does it make no statement at all.

Even after we are dress and  on our way to wherever we are going, we find ourselves questioning our decisions  and our choices about our appearance.  Presentation is everything, and  its been said "we never get a second chance to make a first impression".  But what impression are we trying to make, what message are we trying to send, and who are we  trying to impress? 

How people perceive us when they see us just may be a different story once they get to know us.  Mom always said "you cant judge a book by its cover".  For instances, have you ever been out to dinner and the waiter places your dinner in front of you, the presentation is eloquent, its colorful and appears to be most appetizing. But that first bite,  and instantly you think "OMG" it looks better than it taste.

The problem is this, if we were graded in our physically appearance it could be said  we are over achievers in our outward presentation,  But, when it comers to that which is within us, it would be  said  we need improvement, unsatisfactory, poor performance.   Simply put, we don't act like we look, and we surly don't look like we act. 

Matthew 9:37 "The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few:"  God needs soldiers on the battlefield.  He needs us to put on the whole armor of God, that will share his word and not run in the face of adversity.  Sometimes we have to put our war clothes on.  When we take that last check in the mirror, maybe we should make sure we have on "the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace" 

We change our look, we change our mind, we change our locations, we change our occupation,; change can be  good, change can be necessary.  But, inner change is reflected by what we put in us, which means as we dress we must also put on the shield of faith that can put out the flaming arrows of evil, put on the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.  Faith is built from the in side, salvation is accepted on the inside, and the word of God is hidden in our heart, on the inside.

Then you are dressed, then you are  ready.  Dr. Martin Luther King once said he pray his children "will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character"   I pray we stay dressed to impress "by the content within us and not the outfit upon us".

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