Saturday Reading: Luke 11:37-41
Key Verse: Luke 11:39
39 And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and the platter clean, but your inward part is full of plunder and wickedness.
Devotion:
Because we do look on the outward appearance of others we do tend to look on our outward appearance rather than our inward appearance too. I’m not talking about sprucing yourself up to go out on a date or making sure you look very smart for that interview but rather about the way that we present ourselves to others. We may well be able to make ourselves look like we are very businesslike but unless we act like we know what we are doing nobody is going to be fooled by how we dress up or down. Even then we may be able to fool many by the way that we act but those closest to us will still be able to see us for what we really are – or at least that is how they see it.
We hear and see some pretty horrific things on the news nowadays as people let their true feelings out after bottling them up for so long. I’m sure that these things are nothing new because we can see so many reflections of this type of thing happening all throughout history but the way that the media now reports every little thing we are not going to get by doing what we want anymore. That being said we still seem to be fooled by some who live two separate lives, one on show to the world and one only known to themselves... and God! You see, no matter how hard we try to live a different life to what we actually are on the inside God is always going to know what we are like on the inside.
The simple illustration that Jesus used here is something that we can relate to. If we have a bowl that we are going to eat from we will want to make sure that it is clean on the inside and the outside before we eat from it. The outside is what everyone else will see but we will know if it is clean on the inside so we will have the final choice as to whether we use the bowl or not. God can see us on the inside and He is the one who will make the final choice as to whether He wants to use us or not. Christ has made it possible for us to be cleaned on the inside – if only we will allow Him to do so...
Points to Ponder:
Do you like clean things?
What does God see when He looks inside you?
