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Outside and Inside
This morning, I cut into a purple plum hoping to enjoy it as part of my breakfast. However, I soon realized that, although it looked perfect and delicious on the outside, it was actually rotten on the inside and far from edible. I ended up throwing the whole thing out.
It made me think of people who make an outward pretense of being believers. They may read their Bible, attend a Christian fellowship, fool their family and friends, and on the surface seem very real. There were those like that when the Lord was here on earth. Of them He said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also” (Matthew 23:25-26).
What we need first and foremost is an inward cleansing. This is only through the blood of Christ. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Are you washed and clean on the inside, or are you simply putting on an outward show of being saved?
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