I have a neighbor with a really pretty white pickup. As my dog and I were on our daily walk we passed his house and a man was in the driveway. I assumed it was the owner so I stopped to comment on the pickup. “No,” the man said, “I’m a repairman. That’s not my truck.” Now the truck was unusually dirty. It was covered with salt and sand – winter road grime. So I said, “It’s a shame to have such a pretty truck be so dirty.” The repairman laughed and said, “If you think the truck is dirty you should see the inside of the house.” Oops. I guess it’s true we shouldn’t judge a book (house) by its cover.
One of Jesus’ more powerful metaphors is found in Matthew 23. He thundered, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”
My temptation here is to do some thundering of my own about television evangelists who are constantly begging for money and promising outrageous things. Last night I heard one say if some poor soul out there would send him money their mortgage would be canceled. But I will resist the temptation to go there and instead focus more on us normal people. Society expects us to be polite. We really shouldn’t go around revealing all our inner nastiness. Instead we need to become inside the way we project ourselves outside. We can do that. Paul promises us that Christ will strengthen us and help us clean house. Let’s do it.
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 26, 2012
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Bo 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org