The Outside of the Cup

 Have you ever noticed that as followers of Christ we seem to struggle to keep things in balance? It seems we are running after one thing or another at the expense of other areas of life. We know we need to be involved in ministry so we commit to various projects until our families are neglected. Then we turn our attention to our loved ones and find we have missed every other worship service. We get engrossed in some theological study and have no time for prayer. We concentrate on inner purity but leave out external actions. To be honest, we are also remarkably adept at excusing the excesses and extremes with common sayings that have little or no Biblical reality. One common excuse is that "God knows my heart". This is another way of saying, "good intentions are all that matters." "God knows my heart" just sounds a lot better, even a bit spiritual. And who can argue with that? It is a convenient way to excuse the imbalance and even sin in our lives.

The heart attitude is certainly important. Jesus, tells us, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man" (Matthew 15:18). And the Lord warned Israel, "These people draw near to Me with their mouth,and honor Me with their lips,but their heart is far from Me" (Matthew 15:8). In our Lord's discussion with some of the Pharisees He rebukes them saying, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence" (Matthew 23:25). By these verses we know that the Lord God is deeply concerned with our heart attitudes. Just going through the motions is never enough or fully acceptable to the Lord.

That being said, a cup that proclaims to be spotless on the inside yet has an external appearance of impurity and filth is not acceptable either. The person who is in violation of God's Word or whose behavior is damaging to those around them cannot take a pass with the phrase, "But, God knows my heart." Maybe so, but people know your actions. Faith is demonstrated by what we do. A heartfelt "Be warmed and be filled" would never cut it with James. Neither would telling someone, "But, you know I love you" when the actions of love found in 1 Corinthians 13 are null and void. The outside of our cups are just as important as the inside of the cup. Paul encourages us when writing to Timothy, "Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter [inequity], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21). Vessels of honor are clean on the inside and the outside. God's desire is that our lives be integrated into His. If we are to be like our Messiah we need to represent Him in how we act and with the attitudes that we hold in our hearts. Misconduct and an attitude that does not reflect our Lord is simply not acceptable, no matter what our heart tells us. Jesus displayed a humble and compassionate heart, grounded in uncompromising truth. His call on our lives is to reflect the same. Remember Jeremiah's warning, “The heart is deceitful above all, and desperately wicked; who can know it" (Jeremiah 17:9)? Our tendency is to find ways to excuse how we behave. The outside of the cup should reflect the inside. If Christ has cleansed our hearts our lives should reflect that cleansing.  God, indeed knows our hearts. The question we face is, do we?