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Expectant Prayers ®

Jennifer Jo Weiss

The Inside of the Cup




In our family, we run a load of dishes in our dishwasher almost every day.  Usually the load is extremely full and sometimes that means that certain things don't get clean... especially the cups for some reason.  That makes my oldest son, Titus, very upset and paranoid when he goes to get a glass out of the cupboard.  When he has the dishes chore, he really inspects the glasses as he puts them away.   If they aren't clean then he doesn't put them in the cupboard.  Unfortunately, the younger children don't care and simply want to finish their chore regardless if the items were cleaned or not.     Before Titus will get a drink, I catch him inspecting the glass thoroughly and rinsing it out before he'll put anything in it!

A few days ago in my Bible reading, I came across an interesting verse in Matthew.   In this passage, Jesus was proclaiming 7 woes on the Pharisees.  The Pharisees of the Bible were deemed by Jesus as hypocrites; people who were legalistic and did not have a life that demonstrated the laws they proclaimed!  In chapter 23 verse 25-26, Jesus says, "You clean the outside of the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will be also be clean!  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 dead man's bones and everything unclean.  In the same way on the outside, you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

Sadly, these words of Jesus were not for the unbeliever, but the proclaimed believer... and Pharisees (students of the law) nonetheless.  How shameful.   Don't you wonder how the Pharisees went wrong and began to be more concerned about what was on the outside as opposed to what is on the inside?  It's just like the dirty glass.  It's hard to tell if it's clean or not just by a mere glance, but if you take the time to look and inspect, you can tell the difference. 

Two things come to mind when I meditate on this passage today:  1.) Too many of us in this day and time drink from dirty glasses and don't even care that we are.  We ingest what other so-called Christians preach to us without a proper inspection of the vessel that is pouring the message forth.  We drink and drink, not realizing that there is contamination!  Woe to us!
2.)  We are overly concerned about the outward... the outside of our glass.... and it's our inside that needs a good cleansing.  We have put too much emphasis on appearances, whether that be physical, social, or otherwise.   Remember the old saying that you can't judge a book by it's cover?  It's so true.  Woe to us.

Inspect your glass through the light of the Holy Spirit today and see where you stand.  Get a good washing if you need it!  The Word tells us that we should be washing ourselves with the water of the Word daily.   Don't neglect the inside of your cup!   We need to be clean if we are going to be acceptable vessels for the springs of living water!

Blessings to you today friends!  May your cup overflow!

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