Good Morning Friends,
“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside [the dish] to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.’” (Luke 11:39-42)
Which are you more concerned about – the image you present or the state of your heart?
For the Pharisees, their image was of foremost importance. They believed that they would be judged by God by what they were on the outside, without regard to what was in their hearts. Boy, did they get that wrong.
Jesus looked into the hearts of the Pharisees and came down with greater criticism and judgment on them than He did on anyone else. Apparently, from God’s perspective, the heart is pretty important. In fact, God judges by what is in our hearts, not what our image looks like.
That doesn’t mean that our actions aren’t important. Our actions are important, but only if they come from hearts that are right before God. Our good actions can’t ever make up for our bad hearts. But pure hearts do make up for our failures of action.
So, here’s the point: open your heart to the Lord and allow Him to change you – from the inside out. That’s the only way real and lasting change happens – from the inside out. Real and lasting change doesn’t happen from the outside in.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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