Dirty Coffee Cups

We have had some rainy, windy days around here lately. When I walked to Harmon Field for junior high football practice earlier this week, I noticed some of the trash cans around the stadium had blown over. Scattered on the ground were disposable coffee cups, some bearing the logos of McDonald's and Marathon. To simply look at the cups, one would see that they look like good cups. They appear clean on the outside. Maybe I should gather them up and use them for Campus Life Breakfast Club. But upon closer inspection, I see they are dirty inside. Stained with coffee or smeared with hot chocolate. Only one use remains for these dirty coffee cups and that's to be placed in a landfill. As I looked at the dirty coffee cups, the words of Jesus popped into my mind. "You blind Pharisee, (as you can see with the start of this quote, these are some of the harshest words Jesus ever spoke. Just check out Matthew chapter 23. Heavy words!!!) first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also." -Matthew 23:26. Jesus tells us to take care of the heart, or what's inside, first. Jesus is about transforming hearts. The Pharisees looked good from the outside, but were dirty in the inside. If we aren't careful, we can do the same thing by focusing on external behaviors. To do good things is important, but only as evidence of what's inside. May your heart be transformed by Jesus so that your external behavior reflects Him. Also, don't use coffee cups you find on the ground. Put them in trash can.
These are the days my friend,
Jim "Train"