One of my biggest frustrations around my home is feeling like I can never keep certain areas as clean as I would like to. One of those is the tile floor in the kitchen and hearth room areas. This morning as I was walking my daughter to the bus, I noticed how much grass and grit was in the garage ( I assume from the last grass cutting) and I said to myself, “no wonder there’s always grit in the hearth room and kitchen area. If we don’t keep this outside area clean, we are going to keep tracking this dirt inside.” Once she was on the bus and off to school, I got the broom and began to sweep. I felt sure this would help me and I looked forward in the days to come to see some change (at least a little less dirt on the inside).

As I pondered, I realized the opposite is true about us as individuals. We spend a lot of time on the outside, wearing the best clothes, making sure they are perfectly starched and matching from head to toe. We keep our appearance at its best, hair done, nails manicured, eyebrows arched, bodies slim and trim, YET we track all manner of filth inside-scandalous movies and t.v. shows, gossip, hatred, unforgiveness, bitterness, stress, greed, meanness and criticism to name a few.

In Luke 11, Jesus calls out this issue. In verse 39-40, he tells the Pharisees, “You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people. Did not the one who made the oustide make the inside also?” I’m convinced He’s telling us this same thing today!

When I really think about it, I’m actually amazed at how well we are able to keep our outsides when our insides are so messed up. I have to label that as “grace”. I wonder what we would see in each other (or even if we could handle what we’d see) if one day God removed His grace and allowed our “dirt” to show.

What concerns me more than the dirt itself, is the lack of conviction and desire to want our insides to match our outsides and better yet, God’s will for us. I’m praying today that we will commit to do the self-exam to ensure that we have a clean house on the inside of these mortal bodies so that what we track out are a blessing to those in our families, in our circles and in the groups that God gives us charge over to manage, teach, and serve!