Clean the Inside First...

Hi friends,

I must admit, I'm a little pedantic about making sure that cups, plates and cutlery are properly clean before we use them. The idea of drinking out of a cup that still has crusty remains of a previous beverage in it makes me want to gag! It doesn't matter how pretty the mug might be on the outside, if it's dirty on the inside, then I don't want to drink from it. 

Jesus uses this analogy when rebuking the Pharisees in Matthew 23. He tells them that it is pointless cleaning the outside of the cup and dish, while neglecting to clean the inside. This was a reflection of their lives. They made sure the external looked good, right, and proper. They washed their hands in a certain way and tithed exactly the right amount of even the smallest things. Yet on the inside they were filled with greed, self-indulgence, hypocrisy, and lawlessness. Jesus didn't care how beautiful things looked on the outside when the inside was rotten to the core.

It's easy for us to view the Pharisees as the 'bad guys' of the Bible, like the villain in a pantomime. But I think we tend to have more in common with these guys than many of us would care to admit. Just think about the amount of money and time that is spent on the beauty industry, making sure we have the right skin care products, makeup, hair styles, fashion, etc. And then compare that to the time and money spent on caring for our insides - our spiritual health. I suspect that there are out-of-balance priorities that need to be owned and addressed by many of us. Even if it's not an obsession with fashion or beauty, but an obsession with making sure we do the right things externally, so people will think we are 'good Christians.' We may have a list of 'dos' and 'don'ts' that we try to stick carefully to, making sure we tick the right boxes. But even this - the seemingly 'good' activity of a Christian - can reveal a focus on externals rather than internals. We need to pay attention to the health of our heart, our thinking, our interior life. Jesus made it very clear to the Pharisees that he sees straight through outward pretences and sees straight into the heart. And he cares more about what's in there than how shiny we look on the outside.

I combined I Like Big Cups with God is Good to create the mug, colouring the image and the background with watercolours. The text was created using a combination of alpha sets: Happy Alpha, Skinny Minnie Alpha, and Mini Bold Print Alpha. 

Let's be people who pay attention to the inside more than we concern ourselves with external things.

Be blessed...

x Amy x