Of Manicures & Lungs

On the way home from taking kids to school just a bit ago, I passed a 20-something gal in her car with the window rolled down. I happened to notice that she had perfectly manicured nail tips. . .and that between her first two fingers she was holding the stub of a cigarette.

I thought it such a shame that she was obviously concerned about her appearance, yet she gave no thought to the decay, destruction and havoc she was wreaking on the inside of her body as she was filling her lungs with a substance that could kill her. The contrast was striking and sobering.

And then it hit me how much like that I can be.

In the video clip I posted yesterday of Mark Lowry, he referred to these verses in Matthew 23:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

"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.

Mark was right. Those are scary verses.

Oh, that my insides would be consistent with my outer person!

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

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