I Need a Tan

I remember camping at Cave Run Lake in Morehead, KY as a child. My uncle & aunt loaded us up with their kids and off we went for a few days of fun in the sun. That was a trip to remember. I had lots of fun swimming, fishing, sleeping in the camper, eating by the fire...and of course fighting off mosquito's with bug spray.

One thing I'll never forget about that trip was the terrible sunburn I got. It was so painful, I could barely move. However, I got an awesome tan when it was all said and done!

Think about how much money we spend to make sure our "outside" looks good. From our clothing, hair, skin tone, etc. We spend hours outside in the sun or in a tanning bed, trying to get our tan just right.

But how does our inside look?

Do we spend time getting our "spirit man" in shape? When we spend time working on our "inside tan" or "God tan" we discover that the light of God begins to illuminate beauty.

Spending time with God involves:

1. Prayer - a set time of prayer and a continuous prayer work well.
2. Worship - singing a "new" song (something out of your spirit)....simply expressing our love to Him.
3. Reading the Bible - hiding God's word inside us allows the word to germinate and produce much needed fruit in our lives.
4. Fasting - denying ourselves of whatever it is that takes precedence over our love relationship with Jesus. (i.e., food, TV, facebook, coffee, shopping, Internet - you name it - when you sacrifice these types of things you are sending God a clear message that you are SERIOUS about pursuing Him!)

What should our inside, "God Tan", look like? Well, quite possibly it could look like Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

These characteristics don't come by our own strength. These things are produced by the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we spend enough time with Him, we'll start acting like Him. The same can be said for our best friends. Have you ever noticed that when you spend a lot of time with a friend, you find yourself laughing like them or talking like them? It's just like that with the Holy Spirit - the more time we spend with Him the more we'll become just like Him!


Do this today: Get your Bible, a journal, headphones and worship music - go for a walk or find a quite corner at Starbucks and just spend time alone with Jesus.

Moses spent so much time in the presence of the Lord that his face was tan. :-) How about us? If the sun can leave an imprint on our outside skin, think about what our insides will look like when the SON leaves His imprint in us. We'll be acting, thinking and behaving just like Jesus.