Smiling on the Outside

One of my best friends in the whole world is David Hall from Arizona. He’s the Chairman of our Board of Directors, at this time, and has been for years.

Many years ago, when he was a successful young businessman he came to Jesus Christ. His wife brought him to a campaign we were having in a local church north of downtown Chicago. The thing that opened David Hall’s heart was this: apparently in my message I said, “There are some people smiling on the outside but crying on the inside.”

David Hall said to himself, “That’s me. He’s found me out. I’m putting on an act on the outside but inside I’m dying.” You know, the Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can understand it?” The Lord answers His own question by saying, “I, the Lord, know the heart.”

Only God knows the heart. That’s why the Bible says, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” We don’t know what goes on inside a person. We may think we do, based on outward appearances, but most of the time only the person and the Lord know.

But the Bible also says, and this is the verse that led me to Jesus Christ… “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you shall be saved.”

David Hall believed in his heart and his life was revolutionized. It’s a good way to approach a conversation.