Inside Out

Did you bathe today? How about brush your teeth? Are the clothes you are wearing clean? Most likely we all take care of our daily hygiene without thinking about it. We even make sure we put on deodorant before we leave the house. These things get taken care of each and every day. We make sure to clean the outside, but what about the inside?

“Woe to you, teacher of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean.” – Matthew 24:25-26 (NIV)

During Jesus’ seven woes to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, he repeated uses analogies to show that although the Pharisees were excellent at the outward appearances of being Jewish, their insides were dirty, sinful, and empty of true faith. As we have been reading through Matthew, we have seen this expressed time and time again. The most church-going, obedient believers of the day were frauds. The great thing about Jesus is as he rebuke the Pharisees in a rant for the ages, he finishes by mourning for their hypocrisy. We wants fellowship with them, we wants to care for them.

“O Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” – Matthew 24:37 (NIV)

A Christians today we need to heed the warnings Jesus gives about only cleaning the outside of our cup. We are quick to shower, but often are slow to read our Bible. We would never leave the house without brushing our teeth, but will push off prayer until later. We make sure to restock our supply of shampoo and soap, but is your heart full of the Spirit of God?

Jesus wants your heart. He doesn’t need the showmanship of “looking Christian”, he wants a deep and intimate moment with you each and every day. He wants to enter your heart, fill it with righteousness, and let it overflow until the outside shines with the cleanliness of Christ Jesus.

I was once told about an analogy that describes the effects of letting your cup be overflown. Imagine you are small cup. When you let Jesus overflow your cup it runs into your spouse’s. This helps their cup to overflow and enters the cup of your family. As your family is filled with Christ, their cups will overflow into the church. In progression, your church will overflow and enter the community. This fills up the community and enters your state, country, and eventually the world. If we want to impact the world for Christ, we have to start by making sure our cup, the inside, is clean and full of the love of God.

-Jacob Sprengle

Check out this picture which gives a great example of the analogy discussed above. Click Here.