External vs Internal

 Pharisees!

Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,

inside you are filled with plunder and evil.

Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?

But as to what is within, give alms,

and behold, everything will be clean for you.”

Luke 11: 39-41

I am not sure about you, but sometimes I can find myself becoming too preoccupied with some external things: a preoccupation with how I look, what brands I am wearing, or how I present myself to the world. Online, on Instagram it's even worse, I try to put forward a certain image or aesthetic online or I post nothing because I'm focused on what other people will think and try to give a certain persona to people. Sometimes we are too focused on the outside. Not that we shouldn't care about how we present ourselves or the image we put out there, the problem is that we can become too obsessed over it, and not care about our attitude towards our friends, the homeless, the sick, or those who might not have many friends. When we are more focused on external things and not on our attitudes, how we treat each other, and the lack of compassion and understanding for each other we have a problem. Jesus reminds us that all the externals are just masks, just that- external. What matters most is the inside because the inside will dirty whatever goes in the cup and thus whatever comes out- whatever we show.

So today, examine yourself. Are you focused more on internal or external things? Are you focused on becoming the best possible version of yourself, or are you focused on making thr best image of yourself? 

Lord, you know me at my most authentic self. Help to be focused on you and to know that it is not what I wear or the image I put forward that makes me dirty, but my attitude and lack of action to help those around me that does. Help me to examine and clean my attitudes, thoughts, and beliefs which are negative, and hurt those around me and hurt you. Amen