Is the inside clean?

As I was hand washing my daughters pretty new cup she had gotten for Christmas, the thought hit me: “I wouldn’t have to worry as much about the outside as long as the insides clean”. While this is not completely true and we want to be clean inside and out, who wants to drink from a dirty cup?

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2

I don’t want to be half washed. What about you?

Society has gotten it all backwards and wrong. They want everything to be pretty, sparkly and shiny on the outside. Well, we know that “all that glitters is not gold”. As with true gold, the good stuffs found on the inside. (Sorry to all of you who like to gamble for the example I use 😅) but just look at Vegas! Shiny on the outside, full of lights, but inside full of all kinda sin. Are we pleasing to God on the inside, or do we just have the outward appearance? 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:27-28

That’s wickedness! 

I’ve been guilty, but if that’s where we are at, we are nothing more than Pharisees and Sadducees. If we tell people what to do but don’t live it, then we aren’t truly following HIM. If all we care about is the best seat in the house but for the wrong reason, we definitely aren’t there to be closer to God and away from distractions. We’re only there to stand out. If all We live for is the lights and the look then inside, we are basically dead to Christ and alive to sin! We can have the look all day long but if we don’t have the heart, we got it all wrong friends. We’ve missed the mark. We must aim to please Him.

Take a look at David. He had a good heart. He messed up big, BUT he was a man after Gods own heart and God knew it. His heart is what always led him back to God and choosing to please Him. If your heart ain’t right, ain’t nothing else gonna be right. We must choose to serve God from the inside out and choose to please Him. 

We can have the best that money can buy and still be just as dead inside spiritually. We can have nothing and still be just as empty or maybe even full. We will always be seeking for something, but we’ll never find it until we look deep within. We all have a God shaped hole inside of us that only He can fill. These other things are just temporal pleasures that sooner or later lose their look, luster and shine.

It’s all just plastic if you will, but He is eternal.

May we not just be happy plastic people with a happy fake smile. May we be men and women, boys and girls, with a true heart and intent to serve Him. He knows your heart and He looks within. Let’s make sure the glass isn’t just clean on the outside.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Psalm 51:10-11

The heart’s where it’s at.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1 John 2:16

What are you looking to? What the world has to offer or the God within? It’ll determine the direction you're going.

I like nice stuff and I cannot lie but it can’t buy me happiness or a peace of mind. 

I think of the words that Julie, our friend, recently sang at my grandmother’s funeral. It’s titled, “I want us to be together in heaven”:

“You may have a fancy car, big new house that shines by far, you may live to be a hundred years old, but if you have not be saved, it will end with the grave, but I want us to be together in heaven” 

Nice things don’t buy us in. Having nothing doesn’t determine our out or our in. There’s nothing wrong with having nice things, but do we have them or do they have us? Do the thoughts of wanting them consume us? If they have us then it’s all vain; superficial with no eternal reward if it’s for the wrong reasons. All the reward we’re gonna get is the one we get here.  Then it’ll all end with the grave.

We can focus on our lack or we can focus on our gain. Either way, the direction is the same. We’re going the wrong way unless our focus is on Him! God knows what’s on the inside no matter how little or how much you’ve acquired. May we focus on what He wants (our hearts) and be consumed with pleasing Him.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

“Lord, help us to see things the way you do. It doesn’t matter our age, size, material possessions, our title or our status. It matters what You see on the inside. May we only seek to please You. It’s what’s on the inside that counts. Thank You and Amen.”

“From The Inside Out” lyrics:

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

My heart and my soul
I give you control
Consume me from the inside out, Lord
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out