"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean."
-- Matthew 23: 25-26 (ESV)
This verse comes from a chapter that is Jesus' rebuke of the scribes and the Pharisees. This verse specifically targets how the scribes and the Pharisees would basically value an external appearance over an internal truth. As the cliche phrase goes, they could talk the talk, but not walk the walk. If you think about it in the way Jesus put it, would you be willing to drink from a cup that was rotten and filthy on the inside, but elegant and pristine on the outside? Hopefully not.
It challenges me to take a look at my own life and to examine it. Is what I preach, what I advocate for exemplified in my own life? In one example, if I am going to encourage people to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord, and to even seek a relationship Christ in the first place, would it be justifiable for me to participate in slanderous activities that completely go against God's law? Of course not!
It is so easy for us to fall into a rut where our actions do not match up to our words. Jesus Christ wants to have a relationship with us. He wants to come into our lives and cleanse us. We can easily say that we believe in Him, but unless we truly allow Him to change our heart first, then our outward appearance is just hypocrisy!
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