My outward appearance right now reflects the inward appearance I come to church with every day.
Muddy.
Gross.
And having absolutely nothing together.
But guess what? Having muddy clothes is the core of the Gospel. Jesus does not want us to come to him with our hair beautifully styled, brushed, dyed, and teased. He does not want us to come to Him with our expensive shoes, manicured fingers, and glossy lips. We are supposed to come to God as we are, dirty. We are supposed to come to Him with mud in our hair from the stuff that we had to wade through to even get to that part of the day. We are supposed to come to Him with mud on our feet and face, able to admit to the dirt in our souls. We are supposed to come to Him with all of our mess, all of our mud, all of our heartache. Because this is where the Lord does His best work.
Sometimes I think that we believe that because others may look at you funny or judge you because of your dirt, Jesus will too. But Jesus is not a judgemental human, He is a gracious God. He says there is no need to dress up for Him. There is no need to mask the stink because He can already smell it. You've just got to admit it. You do not need to hide your messiness from Him. Come to Him with the dirt that covers your soul, because He will wipe it clean. He wants to see you at your messiest so He can show you the extent of His grace. Run to Him, let Him wipe your tears, let Him wipe the dirt from your clothes, let Him love you right where you are at.
Sin is the cause of all of this dirt. It creates an infinite hole in our heart. A lot of the times we just try and cover it up with more dirt. But more dirt will not improve it. Something that is infinite can not be improved. The only thing that can fill an infinite hole is something that surpasses it, which is Jesus. It is love and it is logic. Sin sucks, but the worst thing you can do is try and hide it from God. Try and manicure it up to look like it's not so bad. But I got news for you, sin is ugly no matter what you do to it. Sin stinks whether it's wearing Gucci or Versace. Sin is ugly whether it's wearing Free People or Jcrew. Jesus sees this. There is nothing that you can do to hide it from Him, and you are foolish if you think you can. You have to acknowledge this sin to Him. You cannot fix it yourself. Sometimes I think we live in a backward mindset were all the fixing is done outwardly. If I look put together, then I will be accepted. But Jesus looks at you and says no my child, the fixing that needs to be done is in your heart, and I am the only one that can do that. Do not rely on yourself, because you will always be let down. Rely on the creator of your heart to be the one who restores it.