Luke 11:39-40

"And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?"
Luke 11:39-40


This makes me think of how difficult it is to be the same all the time. I think that a lot of the things that God has to say are trying to get us to wake up to the fact that if we want to live in a good world, and be treated well... that we have to be good people, and treat others well. When we start making exceptions for ourselves, then we are granting permission for exceptions from others. If we want consistency, then we have to be ourselves consistent. It is difficult. Sometimes you need to adjust your presentation to the audience. We have different languages, cultures, and beliefs... and it is good to respect those things and to adjust the message to the listener. I think the problem comes when we start doing what these Pharisees did and start caring more about the image than the actual. We cross the line when we just care about some people, and not others; when we care more about what others think about us than about who we are becoming. Today, let's make sure our dishes are clean... inside and out.