“Beautiful inside, beautiful outside,” is written on the wall behind the counter of a shoe shop at New Lynn Mall in Auckland/NZ.

I am at once fully alert.

In the Bible the Lord Jesus Christ is also teaching about the “outside” and the “inside” and we are finding his words in Matthew 23:25-28.

But let me first of all quote from the latest WarCry (09 April 2011, page 03):

“It reminds me of how a friend  once described his life: like an overstuffed suitcase he tried to keep shut. This picture stayed with me  because it sounded like my life , too. I was nice and tidy on the outside, but inside things were jumbled, chaotic mess. It’s just one of the many ways I’ve used to try to trick God and others into thinking I’ve got it all together.

Until the zip breaks, and everything explodes out like fluffy, multi-coloured napalm.”

In Matthew 23 the Lord is calling the teachers of the law and the Pharisees hypocrites.

In Matthew 23:25,26 he admonishes them to clean the inside of the cup and the dish, to get rid of greed and self indulgence.

In Matthew 23:28 he tells them that they appear to be righteous on the outside, but on the inside they are full of  hypocrisy and wickedness.

I am asking myself now:

Am I only beautiful on the outside, or am I also beautiful on the inside?

We can try to trick others into thinking that we’ve got it all together, but not God!