As a young wife, I enjoyed clean-  ing our house from top to bottom. The trouble was it never stayed clean for long. Eventually I discovered that if I kept our house reasonably tidy, it appeared to be clean even when it wasn’t. Gradually I concentrated more on the appearance of a clean house and neglected thorough cleaning. This compromise was not only convenient, it was convincing. Sometimes even I was fooled. But on sunny days my clean looking house was revealed for what it was—dusty and dirty.

In Jesus’ day the scribes and Pharisees were hypocrites who concentrated on the appearance of holiness while neglecting their heart holiness (Matt. 23:25). When the light of Jesus shined on them, He revealed the truth about their outwardly religious life. He didn’t say these external acts were necessarily wrong, but they were wrongfully used as a cover-up for wickedness. For them, inner housecleaning was long overdue.

Keeping up appearances in our housework isn’t wrong, but pretending our hearts are clean is. Only those who are clean on the inside will welcome Jesus with confidence when He returns. Is your heart ready? Or is heart cleaning needed? Now is the time to take care of it!

Author

Joanie Yoder

Topics

Our Daily Bread