Volkswagen?

"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. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."
Matthew 23:25-26

I was at work a few days ago & went to get some coffee, I picked up my cool "Dad…You are my guardian & the champion of my dreams" cup, which my son bought for me at the school Christmas store. Did I mention that I was very proud of that cup? Any way…I went to pour some coffee into the cup when I noticed that it was nasty. Not on the outside, it looked good. But on the inside it looked like something had died in it. There was no way that I was going to us that cup. I kind of see how God feels. In the scriptures above you can see what Jesus said to the teachers & the Pharisees…He told them that they needed to get the inside clean & right, the outside was handled, but the inside was filthy…& to God that's what truly matters. You can look like a solid Christian, new suit, shiny shoes with your best church socks, a big new Bible, hairdo like you like it & make sure that you are at every church event that comes along. But the reality of it is that none of that matters to God. He wants us first & foremost clean on the inside…He wants us real where it matters…in our hearts.
I remember riding in my parent's brown, Mercury, lying in the back, up where the speakers were, looking
out the back window as we were riding down the road. I know that most people younger than I am can not imagine parents that would allow a child to ride like that in a moving car, since most have grown up strapped into a car seat. But you have to remember that these were the days when we rode bikes with no helmet, skateboards with no knee pads & the playground slides were metal & baked in the summer sun & would give you third degree burns if touch by the bare skin, it was a tougher time, we were rugged, strong, we walked 20 miles to school in knee deep snow…o.k., maybe not knee deep, maybe not 20 miles…o.k., o.k. I rode the bus. Anyway, I was watching out the back window of the car & saw the coolest car I had ever seen. It was candy apple red, low to the ground, it looked like a Lamborghini…I was flippin' out. The closer it got the more excited I got. But as it passed I heard the weirdest sound…I heard a Volkswagen engine. It was what they called a "kit" car. It looked good on the outside, but on the inside it was just a "Volkswagen".
On the outside, do you look good? Do you look like a Christian? Do you sound like a Christian? Do you "act" like a Christian? That's all well & good, but it won't matter if inside you're just a…Volkswagen.

Vern