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Inside, Outside

by | Oct 18, 2014 | Honesty

Scripture

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” (Mat 23-27)

Observation

This verse is not just about the Pharisees, it needs to be applied in our lives on a daily basis. The Pharisees thought that they were better than the rest, they worked on getting the small details right but neglected the important things like justice, mercy and faithfulness. They thought themselves better than others and were concerned with the outside appearance not the heart. This occurs when we allow our hearts to get dirty and we focus on doing rather than being. How important it is to go to God for a HEART check up. When we read and apply the words of Jesus, when we challenge ourselves to live like Jesus then our hearts are realigned and the dirt that accumulates washes off. It is easy to let our hearts drift from God and it shows by our thoughts, what we do when no one is looking and how we treat other people. When our hearts are right we live a life with a higher degree of integrity and a lower degree of hypocrisy.

Application

I desire to live a life of integrity and to do this I need to allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse my heart. I need to be careful that I do not look good on the outside and inside I am dirty. This means I need to go to God for a heart check everyday. Doing SOAP helps me do this, it allows my heart to change, my mind to challenge wrong thinking and my life to be a consistent representation of God’s grace.

Prayer

Lord, help me live a life of integrity and remove hypocrisy from me I pray, in Jesus name, amen.

David Goodwin

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