I was recently looking at a woman's magazine that promises "an instant makeover". The article went on to explain how to dress 10 pounds thinner and how to contour your makeup to enhance your face and make you look thinner. As I read the article it hit me that we live in a world that pays great attention to facades.

Scripture informs us that the Lord looks at things from a different perspective. He is much more interested in the interior life than in that brave and made-up face we present to the outside world. "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (I Sam.16:7)

The Lord is not interested in "instant make-over" which only refurbish the facade. Jesus used harsh words to describe the Pharisees who got all the externals right but neglected the important matters of the heart. He called them "Whitewashed tombs". They looked nice from the outside but inside they held dead men's bones.

The Lord wants to change us at the deepest level of our lives, the feeling and emotions and motives that we frequently hide from each other and even try to hide from ourselves. When we surrender to Him, He is able to come in and remodel who we are and make us into new creations. The emotional distortions in our lives which caused us to overeat in the first place begin to be healed. The old compulsions begin to be tamed. And the tranquil inner beauty He gives us within begins to affect and transform our outer selves as well.

Prayer: Father, thank you for caring more about who I really am than who I pretend to be. Thank you that my facade never fools you, for you know your own creation from the inside out-and you love me anyway! Lord, I give you permission to do an interior makeover on my life. I place myself, my whole personality-motives, emotions, hidden needs, and inner drives-in your hands. Do with me as you will, Lord. I want to be exactly who you designed me to be. Amen.