Clean from the Core

• Matthew 23:25 (MSG)
• Matthew 23:26 (MSG)

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My daily reading took me into Matthew 23... in particular, the 7 woes. I love these verses because Jesus speaks rather authoritatively to the teachers of the law and Pharisees - he stands in the face of looming hypocrisy. I have come across many people like this in my faith journey that reflect Christ, but maybe didn't project Christ. These people are often the ones that make our jobs as Christ followers that much harder... the people are a large part of the reason that books like "unChristian" become so relevant and poignant.

It reminds me of a lyric from a Brand New song called Degausser : "good-bye you liar, well you sipped from the cup but you don't own up to anything - then you think you will inspire..."

For what it's worth, I have been guilty of this as well.

In these verses, Christ explains that the cup has been cleaned and shined on the outside, yet remains filthy on the inside. So, it is a reflection of God rather than a projection of God. It's sad that many people who claim to be Christians live this way.

For me, I need to daily evaluate how clean the inside of my cup is. I think it often looks pretty good from the outside, but I would rather project Christ through what's inside. A cup can only overflow from the inside out, and the true contents will overcome the entire cup - nothing will be hidden.

Time to scour the inside; clean from the core.

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