From the Inside Out

One of the songs we're singing this Sunday is "From the Inside Out," recorded by Hillsong United on the cd United We Stand:

In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out

I've become convinced over the years that behavior modification doesn't work. There's not much point in spending our time talking about all the ways we should behave differently, as if we can just decide to behave differently. A lot of Christian teaching feels this way, or at least we take it this way. "Now go and do better." But we can't just muster up the willpower to be better people. That's something only God can do. AA was established on this principle: the first three steps of most 12-step programs are (1) admitting powerlessness, (2) realizing God (or a 'higher power') is powerful where we are powerless, and (3) turning our lives and will over to God. Those principles aren't exclusive to recovery programs, they're the basic teachings of Jesus and the starting place of Christian living.

This song captures that truth as a great prayer for us: "Lord, consume me from the inside out." What we desire, what we ask for, is that God would transform us inwardly, producing an outward effect that is merely the product of our inward condition. Knowing God through Christ and following Him has a transforming effect. A new life emerges from the ashes of our inability to be the people we want to be, the people we were meant to be.

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. -John 15:4-5 TNIV