The Face: A Reflection of the Heart

Proverbs 15:13 says, "A glad heart makes a cheerful face."  I think the Proverbial writer here is expressing an extremely common sense point.  Even children get this.  Our actions will reflect the state of our heart.  When our heart is happy, we naturally smile.  When we are depressed to the very core, our outward appearance reflects that.  We all acknowledge this truth in everyday life but for some reason we don't apply it to our worship.

Busted Wineskins

Have you ever taken a glass freshly cleaned and dried right out of the dishwasher and tried to put ice cold water into it?  Hopefully, if you have, it was only once right?  And if you haven't, let me go ahead and warn you from experience, its not a good idea.  The extreme cold mixed with the extreme hot causes the glass to, at best, crack or, more likely, shatter, leaving you with glass and water all over the floor.  (P.S.- this applies to trying to cool glass dishes right out of the oven with cold water as well... shoulda seen that one coming...)

The Breath of Life

In the beginning, when God created man, He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7).  We also know that in the beginning "the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2).  Also reading into the flood account we find that "They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life" (Genesis 7:15).  If one were to compare the words for "breath" and "spirit" in these instances they'd find them to be irrevocably connected (Job 27:3, 32:8, and Isaiah 57:16).

So what does all this theological mumbo-jumbo amount to?

Jesus Would Buy Used from Amazon

I always heard the phrase growing up "You can't judge a book by its cover."  I think this is most certainly true.  Especially now in the age of the internet where Amazon and ebay are as frequently shopped as Walmart, I think people have come to understand that just because the cover is torn and the pages are slightly discolored, doesn't mean the story is any less valuable or entertaining.  So when it comes to books we all agree.  We get the picture.  

But...