LOOKING GOOD - All Our Daily Bread Daily Devotionals for 2025

Our Daily Bread - Friday, May 14, 2016
by RBC Ministries

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LOOKING GOOD

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First cleanse the inside
-Matthew 23:26

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
2 Kings 19-21
John 4:1-30

Your hair is really healthy," said my hairdresser after giving me a haircut. "I hope it's because you use our products." "No. I'm sorry," I said. "I just use whatever product is cheap and smells good." But then I added, "I also try to eat well. I think that makes a big difference."
When I think about the things we do to make ourselves look good, I'm reminded of some of the things we do to make ourselves look good spiritually. Jesus addressed this issue with the religious leaders in Jerusalem (Matthew 23). They followed an elaborate set of religious rules that went well beyond the ones God had given them. They worked hard to look good to their peers, to prove that they were better than others. But their hard work didn't impress God. Jesus said to them, "You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside [you] are full of extortion and self-indulgence" (v.25). What the Pharisees did to make themselves look good to others actually revealed that they were not good at all.
Every culture values different religious behaviours and traditions, but God's values transcend cultures. And what He values isn't measure by what others see. God values a clean heart and pure motives. Spiritual health is expressed from the inside out. - Julie Ackerman Link
You know me, Lord, for who I am. My motives and heart are open before You. Cleanse me from the inside out. And help me to live as Jesus did - with pure and true motives.

We might look good on the outside without really being good on the inside.

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