Ice on the Outside...and the Inside

The last couple of days I've been reading through Titus. It doesn't take very long to do (like 10 minutes) but it's the kind of book that gives me a chance to look at every verse and understand what is being said. Perception is often dictated by where I am in life and what I took from Titus was two words: Good works.

However you want to say it, doing good deeds, being fruitful, it doesn't matter. Paul is exceedingly clear in Titus that those who believe in God should do good works. Now, we know that works do not save us (God's mercy does, Titus 3:5), but it says flat out that if we love God we will be zealous for good works.

I'm the first to admit that I don't do nearly enough good works. I seem to find something on which to blame my failures. I don't see someone in need, and so on. Big, fat excuses. Maybe the reason I can't see any needs that need met is because I'm not really trying to look...

I walked out of The MAC Tuesday night and it had been snowing/raining,. You know, the kind that piles up and forms a glacier on your car. Well, I started the car, cranked the defroster and started chipping away. I pounded, scraped, dug, and banged on the windows with my ice scraper and I got no where. It wasn't until the defroster kicked in and melted that frosty exterior that I was able to make some head way.

It might sound strange, but I'm a lot like my car. Preventing me from doing good works is a wall of ice--a barrier that I can see through, but can't work through. I can chip all I want on the outside but all I'm going to do is burn myself out and get no where. Change and progress has to start from within and the way to melt the ice is with fire in the heart.

It's a difficult thing to change from the outside in. As my ice scraping proved, there's a lot of elbow grease involved and it can be nearly impossible. But if I work on my heart, the ice melts away and good works for God come easily.

Paul writes in Titus 1:16 about those who profess to know God but deny him in works. I do not want to be that guy. The best way to work on my heart is to let God have His way. The quintessential Third Day song, "Consuming Fire," hits the proverbial nail on the head...

"And yes our God, He is a consuming fire
And the flames burn down deep in my soul
Yes our God He is a consuming fire
He reaches inside and He melts down this
cold heart of stone"