25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.When I first found out that our apartment didn't have a dishwasher... Well, let's just say I might have died a little on the inside. Honestly, I've never had to wash anything-- other than a massive pot or pan-- in my entire life. So it was quite a change!! But do you want to know how cool our God is? He used washing dishes to speak into my life!!
Every time I go to wash the dishes now, that passage from Matthew comes to mind. Washing dishes is an art, really... Well, at least for me it is. First, you gotta get soap and hot water. Once you have these things, you may get your sponge and dirty dishes. Once all of these components are present, you may proceed with washing said dishes. When it comes to cups, you need to start at the bottom of the inside and then work your way out. The cool thing is, that most of the dirty, yucky stuff happens on the inside, so by the time you've finished cleaning the inside, the outside is generally pretty well-off. And every time I go to wash a cup, I just laugh.
The same goes for our lives. We can clean the outside all we want. We can look like the cleanest cup in the whole world... But when someone goes to take a drink, they see all of the sticky grape juice residue mixed with week-old Dr. Pepper. Umm... gross. And now they definitely don't want a drink. Because that's nasty. And I'm sure they're pretty disappointed... At least, I would be. I was pretty thirsty, gosh darn it! So it's super important to clean the inside of the cup: that's where all the stuff happens, man!
In our lives, we need some hot water, soap, and a sponge to help clean our cups. Hot water: prayer; Sponge: accountability; Soap: the Bible. In order to really clean our cup, we need all three of these components. I mean, yeah, they can do a pretty okay job on their own... but none of them can truly get the job done without the others. The most important being the soap: the Bible. Everything else depends on the presence of the soap to get their jobs done. Without soap, the sponge is just scraping at the sides of the cup, hoping to catch some of the yucky stuff and get it off. But when you put the soap and the sponge together, you're in business! You can get most of that jazz off of the sides and bottom of your cup! But something is missing: hot water to cleanse and work off some of the more stubborn spots. Just like cleaning needs hot water, we need friends/mentors to hold us accountable and to push us to read the Bible and pray. All three of these things are amazing, wonderful, beautiful things by themselves... But together, they can pretty much dominate any set-in stain you encounter. ;)
I hope you enjoyed the lessons of a spoiled brat!! Don't you just love how God can move in the most mundane parts of your life? Even if you have a dishwasher, I encourage you to CLEAN A CUP today!! Just take some time and think about all of the components needed and how you use them in your own life. Personally, I could use a bit more hot water... And my sponge is kinda ratty... But hey! Now I know what I have to put on my shopping list. :)
Shelby
Matthew 23:28
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