Last week I cleaned out our minivan in preparation for our family to take a weekend trip. As I was doing this I found a sippy cup underneath one of the bucket seats. I tossed it in the "take inside" pile and finished cleaning up. A few minutes later, I was standing at the kitchen sink with this cup in my hands. I unscrewed the lid and moved to place the cup underneath the faucet when I was met with an unbelievable, overpowering odor! Turns out my sweet little girl had tossed the sippy cup under the seat BEFORE finishing her milk a few weeks ago! Let's just say that the inside of that cup was one of the most disgusting things I have ever witnessed in my time as a mother (including diaper duty)! As I was talking with my husband later that night, he brought up the passage in Luke where Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. In Luke 11:39-41, Jesus condemns the Pharisees for cleaning "the outside of the cup and dish, but inside [being] full of greed and wickedness". The Pharisees were people who had all external appearance of holiness down perfectly. However, once Christ took a look inside, he exposed the dirty mess of their hearts. Even though that sippy cup looked perfect on the outside, I would have never been able to give it to my children since the inside was so disgusting and would harm my children. However, many times I think this is exactly the attitude we can have before the Lord. We try to focus on looking right, talking right, acting right and overall convincing ourselves and those around us that we are living a good Christian life. This week, choose instead to take a look inside and allow the Lord to examine your heart. Would you do what you do if no one was looking? Would you stop what you were doing if someone was watching? Would you continue to serve if no one notice to give you praise? This week choose to spend your resources on your heart and clean out the inside of the cup!
