BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.” Matthew 23:26
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
What happens when we try to help others? We start on the outside, thinking if we can change the environment of a man (his home, clothes, food, education), then we can create a new man. It cannot be done. It was in the Garden of Eden that man got into trouble in the first place.
Cleaning up the outside is just reformation. When you clean up the inside, you are regenerated. Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they don’t need another bath, they need a new birth.
ACTION POINT:
It’s not that we ought not to help others. We should do these things. But men need more than soap and soup; they need salvation. They need a birth from above, not merely a boost from below. |
