Saturday 30 Mar 2013

Saturday Reading: Matthew 23:25-28

Key Verse: Matthew 23:28
28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Devotion:
How many times have you been asked to clean something and you tried to make it look good by having a quick scrub on the outside but not doing a proper job on the inside? I know I have been guilty of that so these words rang a very loud bell for me and make me stop and think about how I actually lead my life.

Nothing is hid from our Lord so when we do not do a proper job at cleaning things up in our own lives He still sees all the grime and dirt that we have tried to bury under the carpet instead. The sin that we try to hide from others is on plain view to Him at all times. We need to remember that simple fact and bring those sins to Him immediately so that He can bury them once and for all. He wants to be able to wipe them all away but unless we are willing to acknowledge that they exist in the first place then we don’t have much hope to start with.

When I am going to make a cup of tea I look inside the cup to make sure that the inside is clean before I make the tea. That is the same thing that we should be doing for our lives as well; we need to make sure that what we do is presentable to start with because we do not have to put up with the sin in our lives. Christ has paid the price for us so that we do not have to bring up that sin every time we are reminded of it. Christ has washed that sin away once and for all – so long as we have brought it before Him and not tried to hide it under the carpet like so many others try.

The simile with the tomb is even better. We may like to make the graves and tombs look to neat and tidy on the outside, but inside they contain something that we don’t like to be reminded of; and as time goes by the inside gets to be worse instead of better. Christ wants us to be clean inside and outside and has given us that opportunity to leave that sin behind. By turning our lives round and following Him we are able to leave that sin behind and take on a much cleaner life with Him. It will be impossible without Christ so don’t try to make it on your own to start with – He wants to help you all the way.

Points to Ponder:
Do you feel better after a good clean?

Christ can wash you whiter than snow!