“25Woe 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. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” — Matthew 23:25-26 (ESV)
My pastor is working through the seven sins and this weekend was on greed. I was moved to study that word this week and I was taken to the above sermon of Jesus. Here I see Jesus talking to the outward and inward conditions. He is pointing out the false outward actions as the hearts were of the opposite. The outward actions of the scribes and Pharisees (noted here) are those that should be looked upon with reverence as those actions were of the highest order for to be as the example. The problem was that they were all a false view of what was/is really going on in the heart.
Recently in American politics the optics of what is said is certainly not what is unfolding as the actions that were taken. Those in the public eye are paying lip service to what is right and working to only act, where we can see, in the interest of what is right. There are improprieties that are happening behind closed doors that are not exactly the example of what right looks like, and they are proving to be the true window into the actual goings on in the heart.
I am disenchanted with all of the hypocrisy being seen in the public. I am looking to those in “authority” as those that should be the example of what right looks like and finding that to be far from the truth. I am seeing the “scribes and Pharisees” all over again, or continually depending on how you look at it. There is little to be seen in the heart of others and we are being played for fools with optics that really not what is really happening for real.
I am looking for those, or at least actions, that are accountable to the heart and what is in line with what is right. I may not like the idea that everything is out in the open at truthful, but at least there will be less of the “do as I say” things coming out. I am looking for those that are honest with me and those that, where I may not like what they have to say, at least I can trust them to be true to their words with their actions.
There is too much greed and corruption on the inside to be trusted on the outside. I long for the time when I can trust that what I see is what I am getting. I long for that time when truth is displayed for all to see. I long for the time when I can see the character of someone’s heart and not have to tiptoe around the falsehood of their actions.
What actions are you taking that are less than in line with your heart? Are you even aware of those actions and their lack of truthful alignment with your heart? What if you were to act on the truth in your heart to display for all to see?
Trevor's Thoughts 