Today’s Devotion
Topic: White-washed Tombs.
Text: Matthew 23: 27 – 28.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Amen.
A goldsmith can coat the outer layer of just about anything with gold; but that does not in any way change the material of either clay, wood or metal that the original object is made of. That one remains intact. So that though the exterior be golden bright, the inner material will be nothing like gold.
As we know, the “outward” can easily be rehearsed, prepared, polished, over-laid and groomed to conform to a certain pattern or standard that is acceptable or pleasing to the eye, while the “inward” remains the truest state of the object. It also remains the truest value by which the object is to be measured. It may be hidden, but for a while. With time the overlaying polish will wane off and the original material is exposed.
Beloved, whatever we project on the outside may not necessarily represent what’s within, and we know it. Sometimes “our inside” is full of dead bones and skeletons, yet we whitewash the outside to look like angels.
Our unforgiving heart is often concealed with a smile that looks like we have already forgiven whoever offends. However, each encounter with them boils more bitterness within… and he/she will never know. Yet we plan revenge the whole time.
Again, we become very similar to whitewashed tombs when we preach one thing in public, and live the other in private. When we profess Christ but in the inside of us, we love the worldliness over the word of God. When the character people know us by is not the character we know we are.
Beloved, the inward is the original and it cannot be hidden forever. Jesus says “Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? (Luke 6: 44- 46).
Meditate on the word and begin to pray that your “original” will be Christ Himself living through you. So that the beauty of He who dwells within reflects on the outside. That will be who you are and exactly how we see you. Any other double standard is hypocritical and offensive to God (Rev 3: 16). “Outside” beauty is easy, but improve the “inside” beautiful as well and the value will be priceless forever. See you at church.
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