Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. {Matthew 23:25-26}
We live in a world where the outside matters more than the inside. More and more in our day and age where Hollywood, the movies and the media have made such an impact in our lives, appearance is becoming everything. Many young people are more and more self-conscious of their appearance and how they look, to a point where some of them become sick and put their health in danger. But the Lord tells us He does not look at the appearance of a person, but He looks at the heart. The heart of a person matters more to God than how they look on the outside. When this life is over and when we stand before the judgment seat of God, He’s not going to judge on how well we groomed ourselves on the outside and how well people thought of us. He’s going to look at the inside of our hearts and see if we walked the way He desired for us to walk. Our heart is everything to God.
This matters so much to the Lord that there’s a whole chapter in the Book of Matthew where the Lord rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. They worked so hard in looking so good on the outside, but they totally neglected the inside of their hearts. They were serving God based on what men thought of them instead of what God thought of them. The Lord Jesus tells them,
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, 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. {Matthew 23:27-28}
God tells prophet Samuel,
“…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” {1 Samuel 16:7}
Proverbs tells us,
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. {Proverbs 4:23}
Jesus told his disciples,
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. {Matthew 15:18-19}
This is why King David said this prayer to God:
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. {Psalm 139:23-24}
So before we put too much weight on Hollywood, the media and the lifestyle magazines we subscribe to, and on how we all look to one another, we need to first examine our hearts and see if there is anything wicked in it or anything that God might not be pleased about. Then ask Him to take these things away and cleanse our hearts and purify it. We can’t do it on our own. If we could, Jesus Christ wouldn’t have needed to come down and die for our sins. Only He can take our sins away. Only He can make us holy and pure before Him. So the only way to make our hearts right and clean before God is to confess our sins before Him, be open to Him about our hearts so He can cleanse it and make it right before Him. When we come to Him with an open heart and He comes and forgives us of our sins, because we have repented before Him, He will fill us with His Spirit. He will fill us with His love and grace and forgiveness, and make us holy before Him. He will fill us with His righteousness. He will show us the way to walk that will be pleasing before Him. He will lead us step by step to the path of His righteousness. We will not have to worry about what He thinks of us in the end, because we know we have made our inside clean first before Him. God who sees the inside of our hearts will reward us and will lift us up openly, so that we will not be ashamed to stand before Him and be judged before Him. He can proudly say to us,
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” {Matthew 25:21}
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. {Philippians 1:21}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You Father for Your undying love for me. I thank You that You are gracious, full of compassion and slow to anger. It is not Your will that any should perish but that all would come to repentance.
Please Jesus, help me and save me. Help me to bare my heart and soul open to You always. I cannot change myself. I cannot save myself. Only You Father can change me and save me. Please Savior help me to be holy and pure before You. Forgive me of any sin or iniquity or any wicked thing that is in my heart. Please Jesus, take all and everything in my heart that is not good before You, and give me a heart that is right and pleasing before You. Only You can do this. I believe in the power of Your love for me and Your power to heal me and change me, and make me whole and pure like You. I ask for all of these things Father in Your most wonderful and sweet and lovely name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.