Have You Seen His Fingerprints?

~~~ Romans 1:16-25 ~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ Luke 11:37-41 ~~~

Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?

Jesus accepts an invitation to dine in the home of a Pharisee.

Pharisees enforced the laws and rules of the day.

It was their job to observe with a very critical eye...

it was expected for them to scrutinize and reprimand 

those not following the rules. 

As soon as Jesus enters into this Pharisee's home 

he breaks a widely prescribed rule...

He does not perform the prescribed 

hand washing before eating. 

This misinformed Pharisee misses the point

 that Jesus is in his house.

He is obsessed with 'the outside' of his cup.

How would any of these rules and laws 

influence your holiness?

What attracts you to a certain glass, cup or mug?

We rarely examine the inside of the cup.

We are more often attracted to the colors

 or the design on the outside.

We usually do not even 

consider the inside.

...they became vain in their reasoning,

and their senseless minds were darkened.

The Pharisees claimed to be wise, but their focus 

on the laws caused them to become vain. 

Their vanity kept them from having the time

 to examine their heart.

Their life was out of balance,

but more importantly their soul was being ignored.

When your priority is out of balance 

too often the outside is what you care most about.

Consider for a moment how God sees you.

To God you appear as a translucent cup.

God sees you as you are inside and outside.

God sees his fingerprints on the outside of your 'cup'

Have you seen his fingerprints from inside?

There is nothing within or without

that you can do to keep what is inside hidden.

God cares more about the inside of you

than your physical appearance.

To God you are a crystal goblet...

An exquisite sparkling cup.

You are a treasure to God...

He created you to be beautiful in all ways.

It is your responsibility to keep

 the crystal cup bright and shining.

If you set your priority to keep the inside of the cup

clean you will be able to see God's 

fingerprints on the outside.

Blessed...

Did not the maker of the outside 

also make the inside?

~~~Peace~~~

Your 'Soul Cup'

~~~ 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 ~~~ Psalm 139 ~~~ Matthew 23:23-26 ~~~

You have searched me and you know me, Lord.

This verse is from Psalm 139, 

one of the most beautiful psalms in the Bible.

God knew you before you were completely put together.

God created you in your mother's womb.

God knows intimately what you are made of..

how you were made.

When you are born God releases you into the world.

In your younger days you take delight in the simple pleasures of life.

All things are good, in the perfect world.

You are fed, clothed, and most importantly loved.

Over time we begin to change...

These changes are not always for our good.

We get ourselves into situations we would rather not be...

we begin to keep them hidden inside.

Paul learns that it is best to not keep things hidden inside.

He tells the people his words come directly from God.

He is not trying to deceive, fool, or impress anyone.

He is openly doing what God has entrusted him 

to do...preach the good news.

...we were determined to share with you

not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well...

Fast forward to Jesus speaking to the scribes and Pharisees.

They have become hypocrites.

Jesus sees right through their external facade.

The are just empty shells of brick and plaster 

with nothing of substance inside.

He probes into their very being.

He sees the inside of the cup.

They have spent so much time making 

their physical appearance perfect that inside has become corroded.

You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,

but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.

They have let the inside of the cup...their soul...

become almost unrecognizable to their creator.

God must be disappointed when he sees

 how we forget about the inside of our soul cup.

As you grow in holiness you come to understand

 that it is the inside of the cup that must receive your attention.

It does not matter what the outside looks like

 if the inside to crusted over with many years of debris.

The inside of our cup becomes defiled because 

we become preoccupied with things that do not matter

Our task is to dedicate time to keep the inside of our cup clean.

This is not too difficult as long as we do not let 

scum and mildew defile the inside.

Keep ever present in your mind the understanding that

God knows you inside and out.

His interest and love for you

is primarily focused

 on the inside of your 'soul cup'.

You are Blessed by a God who knows 

how lovely you can be both outside and inside.

It was your inside 'soul cup' that he created first.

Get busy with the scrubbing brushes.

Bring back the shine inside.

~~~Peace~~~

The "New Detergent"

~~~ 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3A, 14-17 ~~~ Psalm 96 ~~~ Matthew 23:23-26 ~~~

Try not to be shaken out of your minds or alarmed,
but you may need to take another look at your dishes.
Are they as clean as you think they are?
Do they look clean until you hold them up to the light?
Is it time for a new dish washing soap?
Or is ti time to buy new dishes?

Jesus takes some delight, it seems,
in making comparisons to the scribes and Pharisees.
Today it is about their supposedly cleanliness.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence....

Jesus talks about cups and bowls,
but he is really talking about these men in authority.
Jesus does not really care about whether or not
 they are following all of the prescribed cleansing rituals.

He did not come to inspect their kitchens.
He is not the local health department representative.

He speaks to their inner self as compared
 to their external appearance.
Their hearts are corrupt with minutia...the tiniest gnat.

...Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean."

You probably have seen the commercial of the woman
takes a clean glass from the dish washer
only to discover it looks very cloudy.

The detergent had cleaned the outside of the glass,
but a cloudy film remained on the inside.

The new improved detergent promises to rid the dishes of the cloudy film.

Jesus was the 'new detergent'.
He came to remove the cloudy film,
but the scribes and Pharisees resisted such nonsense.

What is on the inside is so much more important than the outside.
The scribes and Pharisees paraded around dressed in their fancy robes.
All the while their insides were left in a state of uncleanliness.

They were not taking care of the important things like...
...judgment and mercy and fidelity.

Sometimes we too focus on the 'outside' of the cup.
If we can keep our heart and soul fixed on the good things of the Lord

then everything else will fall into its proper place.

The scribes and the Pharisees become Obsessive Compulsive
 about even the smallest part of the law. 

They were not the least bit concerned about
 how well they were loving God and their neighbors.

Jesus wants us to follow his example of love.
Observing the law may have its place,
 but it should never supersede our desire to love.

Jesus is the 'new detergent',
he removes the cloudy film from inside our hearts.
He Blesses us with his love so that
 we can in turn love others more completely.

Turn your cleaning first to the inside of the cup and all will be well.
~~~Peace~~~

The Inside of the Cup

~~~ Memorial of Saint Teresa of Avila,

Virgin and Doctor of the Church ~~~

 

~~~ Romans 1:16-25 ~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ Luke 11:37-41 ~~~

 

Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?

 

We are just like the people of Biblical times....

we are often more concerned with our outside appearance than our inner self.

 

Jesus is invited to dinner and either forgot or intentionally

failed to wash his hands before eating.

Maybe his hands were not dirty, he had just been teaching the crowd.

Maybe he set the scene with the intention of addressing

the external rituals of the Pharisees.

What matters today is that the message we can use today.

 

We do tend to put our prayer life after our cleanliness.

I am guilty of often not beginning my day immediately with prayer.

I do eventually get to my morning prayers, but it is not before I wash my face.

 

Perhaps we tends to care more about our external appearance

than our interior disposition.

Our external rituals are visible to many,

but the state of our soul can be obscured.

We can make our outside look all clean and beautiful...

after all this is what others see.

This is how they relate to us...by what they witness.

 

Saint Teresa initially entered the convent for mostly external reasons.

As she grew in holiness she wrote her

well known book the Interior Castle.

Through the writings of Saint Teresa of Avila we find

 much to help us make our inner being

as well manicured as our physical bodies. 

 

 

May these words of Teresa provide food for the nourishment of your soul.

While it is true no human can see our soul...God does;

 he wants us to devote more time polishing and sprucing

 up the inside of the cup.

 

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

 

“May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received,

and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into our bones,

and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and everyone of you.”  

 

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

 

"Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices." 

 

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

 

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out
Christ's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.”  

 

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

 

 God calls to us in countless little ways all the time.

 

 We cannot excuse or neglect the inside of our cup.

Fill it with thoughts and words worthy of your call to holiness.

The inside of the cup in the end will be our pass into heaven.

God does not care if you are dressed in the finest silk and satin clothing...

he does not care if you are wearing diamond rings and gold chains...

he does not care if you have polished nails and artistically blushed cheeks.

 

God is only concerned with the state and condition of our heart and soul.

He searches and probes our heart to seek more of him.

 

Blessings come pour forth from the inside of the cup...

where your heart fills the space with love.

Designer Frauds

~~~ Galatians 5:1-6 ~~~ Psalm 119 ~~~ Luke 11: 37-41 ~~~

 

When we are living meticulously by the law alone we are just fooling ourselves.

The law governs your external attitude.

The law prescribes certain procedures to be carried out at specific times.

The law may restrict the the inner spirit.

 

Jesus came, not to abolish the law, but to expand the view of law.

Jesus knew that even if you followed the law exactly

you were not necessarily a model or holy person.

Following the law may just be a matter of going

through the prescribed actions.

 

The presence of Jesus leave those around him perplexed

as he challenges their understanding of the laws.

Strictly living within the confines of the law can be deceiving.

Jesus often found himself delivering

his message outside the boundaries of the law.

 

We can sometimes become so caught up in the

'outside of the cup' that we overlook

what is happening inside the cup.

The outside of our cup may not be who we really are inside.

Jesus says to the Pharisees

"...Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?"

 

Why are you spending so much time on the outside...

the external appearances?

Do you not know that the maker of the cup also

intimately knows the inside of the cup?

 

Washing the hands is not symbolic of ones internal cleansing.

Outward appearances can be deceiving.

Underneath the external facade there can be a host of maggots and decay.

 

Just because you may dress well or drive a fancy car or

 live in an expensive home; none of these things may represent

what lives inside your heart.

 

Today Jesus is saying pay more attention to your internal intentions

and less about the external ritual laws.

Today Jesus is saying even if you go through all of the prescribed laws

and your heart is not in the proper place

you are a fraud.

 

Several years ago I was introduced to a place

where you could purchase 'designer' handbags at a greatly reduced price.

Apparently if you knew the right thing to ask the sales clerk

you gained access to the 'special' room.

 

Little did I know at the time that this 'special' room

containing the 'designer' products was illegal.

All of the products were frauds.

All were rip offs of the real thing.

All were copies made to look like the actual designer handbag

to the unsuspecting buyer.

To the untrained eye you could not tell the difference.

 

I think this is exactly what Jesus is warning us about today.

Are you a true disciple of his or are you just going through the motions?

In other words, are you really a good imitation...a fraud?

 

Don't be offended by these words just examine your own heart.

Just be honest with your self.

Only you and God know the truth.

It really does not matter what anyone else sees or thinks.

 

 

Above all of the laws and rules there is only one thing that matters in the end.

Have you been true to your call to love others...

not only as you love yourself,

but more importantly as God has loved you?

 

You see what really matters is the

'inside of the cup'.

One spec left inside the cup can contaminate the whole contents.

It is time to focus on the inside of the cup.

 

Sometimes Jesus did not follow the prescribed laws

in order to make his point.