From The Inside Out

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also”(Matt 23:25-26). This is bad dishwashing. You ever pulled a cup down out the cabinet and the outside was clean but you looked inside and had to rewash it? Or didn't pay attention to the inside (catch that) because you saw the outside was clean and poured your drink in only to have to pour it out when you realize the inside wasn't clean? That is many of us today, clean on the outside but need a rewashing on the inside. The outside of the cup is not nearly as important as the inside and the same is true of our spiritual lives.

An external focus is really just worrying about how we appear to others and what they’re thinking of us leads to wrong motives the dirt accumulating internally is what's important. Bitterness, jealousy, hatred, envy, greed, deception these are inner issues. Good deeds but wrong motives, false humilities. We appear holy by works and dress code but lack love, compassion, and patience with others. God longs for change to start inside us “first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish”—as we make the commitment and change in our hearts to live righteously the outside of the dish will line up.

Jesus is in charge and that’s who we want to please. Jesus shook up the norm of the church, we should too and as we see him call us to make external alterations, we happily do so. Our speech, dress, and conduct will align with his word as we become more like him with a view to his will and not our own. Our devotion to Jesus does not hinge on people it is inside out!  While moral looseness is never acceptable, false motives undermine even flawless morality. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Cleanse from the "Inside Out"