25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean." (Matthew 23)
Who are we trying to impress? We all want to "look our best", but why? Is it to impress others? Try to fake them, or God, or even ourselves, about who we are? Jesus says that is often the case. It is fine to look fine - it can be a sign of respect towards God or others, and even ourselves. But we often cross the line from healthy respect to substituting and outward expressing of success - and even spirituality - for what really matters more: cleanliness of heart, having our inner life in order. God's heart is broken when we put the outer above the inner, when we are more concerned with what other people think than what He knows, and when we treat Him like He cannot see what is within our hearts. Then we are acting more like we are gods made by ourselves than those who believe and trust in Him as the God Who really is.
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