I have a 12 ounce can of Diet 7 up sitting on the shelf of my office bookcase.  The can is there to serve as a constant reminder.  You might ask, what can a can of 7 up remind a person of? Could it be thirst?  Or maybe it's the 10 cent deposit.  Or could it be a cheap shelf decoration?

Well, it's none of the above.  The can that sits on my bookcase shelf is different.  This particular can has never been opened.  It's sealed and the pull tab is intact.  The problem is, the can is empty. There is absolutely nothing in the can but air!  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  The outside of the can clearly advertises what's in the can:  "Crisp, Clear Refreshing Taste;  No Caffeine, No Artificial Colors, No Artificial Flavors, Very Low Sodium, yadayada, menyada.   My daughter, Lisa, gave me the can some time ago.  I'm not really sure how she ended up with it, but she probably thought that since it was empty, her Pops would provide a good home for it!

Most people thirstily digging into a 12 pack of soda and pulling out an empty can that never was opened, would be furious.   Not this fruit of the Spirit man!  I saw an opportunity to use the can as a very practical reminder of being consistent - inside and out.  Early in my life, I was all about appearance, just like the 7 up can.  I looked like a Christian - whatever they look like!  I talked like a Christian - at least around other Christians.  I prayed like a Christian - at least my understanding of a Christian.  However, I was playing a game.  I was trying to look like something I wasn't.  Better yet, I was doing it because I thought people expected it of me, and more importantly, that God expected this of me.  It had nothing to do with me, yet had everything to do with me.  Now that's deep. 

The empty can reminds me every day that this game is over.  As Popeye would say:  "I am what I am."  My actions must match my words.  What I do when no one is watching, must match what I do when everyone is watching.  In Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus' words are recorded:  "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."   Pointed words from the Master. 

My intact but empty can of 7 up cannot offer me, or anyone for that matter, any refreshment.  It just isn't what it's advertised to be.  It has no value other than the deposit value or recycle value.   The same is true of my life.  If I'm "advertising" or showing something in my life or about my life that isn't really there on the inside...who am I able to refresh?  What value do I then have in the Kingdom of God?  Am I a whitewashed tomb but full of bones?  What's my redeeming value?  How about you? 

Why not allow God to repackage you, so that your outside matches the inside?  Do it today!

Unpacking,
Deurty Old Man