More Than Paint

Bible Reading: Matthew 23:25-28

Corey walked into the bathroom and was surprised to see his dad’s legs sticking out from under the sink. “Dad? Why are you hanging out in the cupboard?”

“Well, I saw a water stain on the ceiling downstairs,” his dad’s voice echoed from inside the cabinet. “Water can really damage the inside of a house, so I did a little detective work. Found out this sink is leaking water all the way downstairs.”

“But Dad, it’s Saturday. Don’t you just want to relax? You could just paint over the stain.”

Through the sink drain, Corey heard a laugh. “Some people do. But that would just cover up the damage. The sink would keep leaking, and our house would rot from the inside out. I’d have to spend a lot more than a Saturday—and a lot more than a few bucks on new fittings—if I ignored this leak.” His head emerged from the cabinet, and he smiled at Corey, now perched across from him on the bathtub. “You know, I had a situation like this with our pastor this week.”

Corey’s eyebrows went up. “Pastor John has a leak?”

Now they both laughed. “No, I think he’s fine,” Dad said. “But when we went to church this week, I wanted to look like a good guy. When I was talking to Pastor John, I wanted to tell him about the work we’ve been doing with refugees—not to honor Jesus, but to honor myself. But then I realized I was focusing on my outside, like painting over a water stain. I was more concerned about how others saw me than what Jesus was doing through me.”

Corey handed his dad a wrench. “Isn’t that like those guys in the Bible? The…pair-of-fleas, or something like that?”

Dad was tucked in the cabinet again, and his belly quivered with laughter. “You crack me up! Yep, like the Pharisees. Jesus said they were like a nice tombstone—painted on the outside, but inside, full of rotting bones.”

Corey wrinkled his nose. “Gross!”

“Exactly. If we do good things on the outside but they don’t come from our hearts, God can see the rottenness inside. That’s why we need Jesus to fix our hearts. When we trust Him to remove the rottenness of our sin, we can obey Him from the inside out.” – Janel Breitenstein

How About You?

Has Jesus fixed the leak in your heart? Or are you trying to cover the stain by looking good on the outside? Even if you look like a good Christian to other people, God sees what’s inside. Doing good things won’t get rid of the sin rotting in your heart—only Jesus can. If you trust in Him, He has removed your sin so you can obey Him inside and out.

Today’s Key Verse:
1 Samuel 16:7 God doesn’t look at what people see. People judge by what is on the outside, but the Lord looks at the heart. (ERV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Obey God from the inside out