For years I thought that if I knew enough I would be enough for myself. I thought if I performed enough I would be enough for others. I thought if I could fix others that I would be fixed, that the ache inside of me would be healed. I have tried, in vain, to make my inside whole and complete and cleansed and made right from the outside—outside in. When I became a pastor, I thought I could make my inside world right and whole by preaching—that somehow I would be made complete—righteous—through church growth. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?But I don’t think I’m alone. I think we all attempt to solve how we feel inside by somehow arranging our outside world. What do you use to make yourself whole? What do hope will make you complete? Is it money? If I have enough money, then my fear and insecurity will go away? Is it health? If I could just do what I used to, or if I could just look how I’ve always wanted to, then I would be happy and this sense of ‘less than’ would go away. Is it that the right person loves you? That if you just get all the pieces of your life arranged properly, if you just could figure it out what’s really wrong, if you just can get a handle on what’s happening with them or you or this world then…then what? You’d feel better? You’d have more peace? You’d finally be complete?When we become Christians it gets even more sticky. If I just do what God wants…then I’ll be enough, then I’ll be whole. And in a sense, if we read the Scriptures in a particular way, our wounded hearts which search for wholeness will turn even God’s word into a self-salvation program. We know in our heads we’re saved by grace, but in our hearts we’re still trying to solve our inside problems by arranging our outside world. Today in God’s Word we have the confrontation between Jesus and Pharisees. These well meaning Jews, Jews who tried desperately to apply God’s Word to their life, are in the same boat we’re in—they’re trying desperately to solve the problems of their heart by arranging their outside world. And Jesus says, “No, you must be changed from the inside out.” And for them, as well as for us, that can be a terrifying answer.
