Tag: Luke 11:33-54

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! 40 Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? 41 So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.

42 What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,^[c] but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

43 What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. 44 Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.’” v. 39-44

Jesus is more concerned with what is going on on the inside than how you look on the outside.  I remember growing up as a teenager, I could look like a Christian on Sunday.  I could say the right answers, act the right way, and even pray the right prayers, but my heart wasn’t right.  That was shown by how I lived everyday besides Sunday.  When Jesus got a hold of all of me, my heart included, he started changing me from the inside out.  Thus the name for this blog.  I want to be changed from the inside out not from the outside in.  I love what the NLT Life Application Study Bible says in its notes for this passage.  Check it out:

Jesus criticized the Pharisees and the experts in religious law harshly because they

1. Washed their outsides but not their insides.
2. Remembered to give a tenth of their garden herbs but neglected justice.
3. Loved praise and attention.
4. Loaded people down with burdensome religious demands.
5. Would not accept the truth about Jesus.
6. Prevented others from believing the truth.

They went wrong by focusing on outward appearances and ignoring the inner condition of their heart.

People do the same when their service comes from a desire to be seen rather than from a pure heart that is full of love for others.  People may sometimes be fooled, but God isn’t!  Don’t be a Christian on the outside only.  Bring your inner life under God’s control and your outer life will naturally reflect Him!