Luke 11:42

"But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."
Luke 11:42


This chapter is interesting, and this part of it is mainly talking about the differences between external and internal devotion. Not that either of them is unimportant, because we should be helping others and setting a good example... but in this verse Christ is talking to some people who were mainly focused on the external, and what their religious devotion looked like to the people around them. Here, Christ says that the internal things are important as well. We need to clean up our emotions and our mental decisions as well, rather than just trying to promote a certain image to others. Sometimes that is harder than working on the external stuff... internally, there can be a lot of accumulated dust and dirt because no one sees so we rarely bother to clean. It is amazingly important though, to know God and be devoted to him internally, where no one else can see. That's what really changes our lives and the lives of the people around us... not looking cool and righteous... but *being* good, and compassionate, and serving others. And we can't get there without being converted on the inside rather than just going through the motions. Today, let's work on ourselves internally, and talk to God about what needs to change and how to clean out all the cobwebs. :)