Inside and Out
Woe to you, teachers of
the law and Pharisees,
you hypocrites! You are whitewashed tombs
which look beautiful on
the outside, but on the inside,
are full of dead men’s
bones and everything unclean.
Matthew 23:27
This
beautiful flower comes from the Datura plant.
The erect, trumpet-like flowers dazzle in shades of white, pink, yellow
and pale purple. The dark green foliage
hides spiny capsules about the size of a golf ball that split open when ripe,
releasing an abundance of seeds. I used
to have a row of these beauties growing in my front yard, until I discovered
that even the tiniest piece of this plant contains toxic hallucinogens, and has
a long history of causing delirium and death if ingested.
The flowers are gorgeous but lethal, especially to small animals.
Jesus
found the Pharisees to be very similar to my poisonous flowers. In their flowing robes and gold mitered
headdress, they were beautiful on the outside.
They appeared to be perfect human beings who kept every law ever
written. But inside, many of them were
grasping, devious, power hungry, vain, amoral men. Society rewards the exterior beauty, brains
and brawn of their chosen celebrities.
God cares about the condition of the heart.
I
have met stunningly beautiful people who were vain, rude and
self-absorbed. I have friends who will never grace the runways of this world, but their kindness, compassion
and love pour forth to others from their beautiful hearts. Lord, help us today to have true inner beauty
– reflecting Your glory and grace.
*
I want to walk as a child
of the light;
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give
light to the world.
The star of my life is
Jesus.
In Him there is no
darkness at all,
The night and the day are
both alike.
The Lamb is the light of
the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord
Jesus.
The United Methodist
Hymnal, No. 206
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