Unlimited: Beautiful Tombs
Aug 23, 2019 2365
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside, you appear to people as righteous but, on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness (Matthew 23:27-28, NIV).
On a sunny day, the whitewashed tombs around Jerusalem looked beautiful. But everyone knew what was inside.
Beautiful Tombs – Don’t be One!
There are Christians and their communities that appear beautiful on the outside. They draw people in, but while the outside is beautiful, all there is inside is corruption and death. They are beautiful tombs.
Jesus was concerned not just for the hypocritical religious people who were like these beautiful tombs, but also for the people who were deceived into joining them. Unfortunately, many people today have turned away from God, because when they have looked at professed Christians, they haven’t seen anything there to love.
It’s easy to be beautiful on the outside, but Jesus calls you to be beautiful within.
How can we actually be righteous, instead of just appearing righteous?
We do it by not being like tombs. Tombs have death inside, but we need to have true Life inside. We need to be filled with the presence of Jesus. Then he will change you and make you beautiful, unforced, from the inside out.
Don’t be just a beautiful tomb. Make it your goal today to reflect the love and the grace of God to those around you, not just as a whitewash, but because it springs from deep inside your heart of gratitude. Do it humbly, so that no hypocrisy may be found in you.
– Eliezer Gonzalez
Eli’s Reflection: Carefully examine your interactions with others. Does your care for them come from a heart of selfless, other-centred love? Do you need Jesus to start doing some tomb-cleaning in your life? Make it a topic of prayer.
Pauline
Aug 23, 2019
All treasures on earth would be his, but only our hearts will touch his heart. What if we just went to him with our hearts and nothing else. Just as lam...,,oh lamb of God, l come!!! Amen ?
David Sampson
Aug 23, 2019
Heavenly Father, the creator of the whole universe, the author and the finishers of my faith, let my inner or the inside beauty suppercede the outer or the outside beauty for your word says what inter into a man defile not a man but what comes out of a man defile a man. The sufficient grace to have Christ like character and behaviour be mine in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen and Amen.
Ayamah Mbateh Ambroise
Aug 23, 2019
Thank you heavenly father for your love towards me, Lord it pleases you to see me carrying in me the Christ like character. Lord I pray that by your grace destroy in my heart every bit of hypocrisy that will make me appear good outwardly but inside me I am rotten. Make my heart to be your throne where you sit for love to flow from there to the world arround me in Jesus mighty name. Amen.