[Steve Myers] It’s always in the news. It seems you hear about a politician who isn’t everything that they showed themselves to be. Maybe someone that represents a company is someone in actuality totally different than what they appear to be. Perhaps someone you know seems to be an honest, upstanding person, and then something comes out to show that in reality, they are exactly the opposite.

Christ dealt with individuals just like that. The scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23 were confronted by Christ. And He said something interesting in verse 23 – well, actually, let’s go to verse 25. In verse 25 He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25)

And boy, it’s easy to look at that and say, “Well, I’m pretty clean on the outside. I’m not like they are. I’m not like those dirty politicians. I’m not like those fallen celebrities. I’m not like that at all.” And yet, I wonder what we are like. Christ said that on the outside they appeared one way, but inside they were totally different. When you hear things like that in the news, do we normally come to the thought that, “Wow, they are really bad. They’re awful people. Look how terrible they are.”? Or do we step back a little bit and say, “Well, what is my house like? You know, what am I like?”

You know, there was a time that God was dealing with an ancient king. His name was Hezekiah. And in 2 Kings chapter 20, Hezekiah realized his time was up. His time was up. And God said something interesting to him back in 2 Kings chapter 20. I’ll write that one down – 2 Kings chapter 20, right at the very beginning of that chapter, here’s what God said to Hezekiah. He said, “Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live” (2 Kings 20:1)

You see, Hezekiah had it right before his eyes that, wait a second, my time is up. I can’t point the finger at anybody else anymore. I better get my own act together. What really counts, God was telling him, is what’s on the inside. You better be who you really are. And if you’re not measuring up to the standard of Christ, you better change what’s on the inside so that the outside and the inside match up. And so Christ had that very message and He pronounced it over and over and over again.

So I hope we’ll take that opportunity – when we see these things in the news, it should be a reminder to us – Is my house in order? Am I really the same on the outside that I am on the inside? And if I’m not, I better be more reliant on Jesus Christ. I better submit myself more fully to God’s Holy Spirit. I better be doing the things that show that I am a son of God. That’s the ultimate goal.

So let’s dedicate ourselves to do that very thing. Let’s put our houses in order so that we can be the same on the outside that we are on the inside.

That’s BT Daily. We’ll see you next time.