Cleaning for Company

Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.”
Luke 11:39-41 NLT

If you have guests coming for Thanksgiving, more than likely, you will do some serious housecleaning and maybe a few upgrades. I laughed heartily at several stories shared by some of the guys at work.

The wife made me paint the bathroom…the kitchen…the laundry room, for crying out loud!

She insisted we get the carpets steam cleaned.

My wife wants all the Christmas decorations up BEFORE Thanksgiving so the house will look festive when her family comes in. Decorations are supposed to be done on the Friday AFTER.

That woman is driving me nuts!

Of course, if you’re one of those women (or men), you may not see the humor in that. After all, cleaning for people who are coming to your house is SERIOUS business.

Jesus is serious about cleaning, too. Remember when He cleaned the money changers out of the Temple?  He put it into perspective when He instructed us about ritual cleaning – washing hands, feet, wiping things down – Jesus said it’s not what goes into us that defiles or makes us dirty; it’s what comes out of us.  In our text for today, He said we clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor.

Just like holiday cleaning or impending visits, ordinary or superficial cleaning doesn’t cut it for the important things in life. The holiday season is upon us and there is an abundance of opportunity to give gifts to those less fortunate, so we can be clean inside and out.  

He’s not kidding. After all, do you remember what He gave to provide cleaning for our sins? Now, THAT was serious…

Prayer:

Father,
           Thank You for providing everything necessary for us to be clean. Lord, we want clean hands and a pure heart so that we can stand before You. Help us to remain vigilant and serious about the kind of clean that matters. Show us where You want us to give. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen