The apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians that God “may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts… .” I suspect that most of us could benefit from joining in Paul’s prayer. We tend to spend far more time and energy on taking care of our outer being that we show to the world than on our inner being. We focus most of our attention on what looks good, what feels good, what tastes good, what smells good, what makes life easy, what alleviates pain, what entertains, what provides immediate satisfaction, what proves we’ve got it made. Just look at the TV commercials to get a glimpse of how we use our resources, material, physical, mental, and emotional. This is nothing new. The psalmist recognized it in his day. King David in our lesson from the Hebrew scriptures is a good example of how we go astray when we let ourselves get so tangled up in our outer being that we neglect our inner being. The 5000 folks in the gospel lesson who wanted to make Jesus king because of what he was doing in their midst weren’t thinking about their inner being either. Here was someone who fed their bellies, healed their bodies, their outer being concerns, but Jesus withdrew from them because becoming an earthly king was not his mission. He had deeper issues to address; he was and is concerned with our inner being, our heart, the seat of our relationship with God. Our inner being, our soul, by whatever name we may call it, that mysterious place deep within where Christ Jesus chooses to dwell, is the place where we first become aware of the “still, small voice” of God (I Kgs.19:12). It is the place where God is at work, transforming us from within into the imago dei that we were created to be. It is the place where we begin to experience the stirrings of the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Gal.5:22) It is the place where the Holy Spirit comes to guide us into ”all the truth” (Jn.16:13) as we are ready to receive it. Our task then is to be ready, to be open and welcoming to receive whatever God has prepared for us in his desire to make us whole and holy. It takes time and attention, diligence and commitment. It doesn’t happen over night. The good news is that it’s never too late to attend to our inner being.