Transformed from the Inside

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading, titled Transformed from the Inside, was written by Monica LaRose. In the worst UK residential fire since World War II, fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower building in West London, claiming the lives of 70 people. Investigations revealed a primary reason the flames spread so quickly was the cladding, used as part of a renovation that covered the building's exterior. The material was aluminum on the outside, but had an extremely flammable plastic core. How was such a dangerous material allowed to be sold and installed?

The product's sellers failed to disclose poor fire safety test results, and buyers, drawn by the material's cheap price tag, failed to heed warning signs. The shiny cladding looked nice on the outside. Some of Jesus's harshest words were directed at religious teachers he accused of covering corruption behind a nice-looking exterior. In Matthew 22, he said they were like white-washed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but inside full of dead bones. Instead of pursuing justice, mercy, and faithfulness, they were focused on looking good, cleaning the outside of the cup, but not the greed and self-indulgence inside. It's easier to focus on looking good than to bring our sin and brokenness honestly before God.

But a nice-looking exterior doesn't make a corrupt heart any less dangerous. God invites us to let him transform all of us from the inside. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Matthew chapter 23 verses 23 through 33. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill, and cumin, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.

You blind guides. You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 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 will also 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 the bones of the dead 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. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, if we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets?

Go ahead then and complete what your ancestors started. You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Let's pray. Gracious God, thank you for your transforming power. Help us to bring our sin and brokenness honestly before you, trusting you to transform us from the inside out. Thank you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening today. My name is Brenna Holsclaw and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.