God Cares About You and Your Heart
Through the lens of a dirty microwave, we can see how God cares about you and your heart more than how you appear to others.
I’m a fairly tidy person. Since having kids, my standards have definitely gone down, but I like to have a clean workspace to start my day. To accomplish this, we do dishes almost every night and we pick up the downstairs and run the robot vacuum. On the days that things aren’t put away, I feel like my day doesn’t start right – like I’m having to play catch up all day.
When I clean the kitchen, I wipe down all the counters and the stovetop, and I wipe down the outside of the microwave, dishwasher, and refrigerator as needed.
If you were to walk into my kitchen, you would buy my tidy person story. However, if you were to open my microwave at this very moment, you would be told a different story.
The inside part of my microwave – the important part that does all the work – is a disgusting mess. Splotches of spaghetti sauce and refried beans and other unidentifiable food particles adorn the top, bottom, sides, and door of this hard-working machine.
Every time I open the door to heat my food, I think, man, I really need to clean this. And then I cook my food, shut the door, and forget about it until the next time I want a snack.
The same can be said about my Christian walk.
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God Cares About You and Your Heart
As a Christian, it can be so tempting to focus only on the outside. The outside is easy to clean and control to appear to be good. I can be a “good” Christian if I go to church every Sunday and read my Bible. I can be a “good” Christian if I serve others and follow the ten commandments. As long as I’m not murdering anyone (or stealing, or lying, or fill in the blank), I should be good, right?
God cares about the inside more than the outside.
Luke 18:10-14
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Through this parable in Luke, God cuts to the chase: God cares about you and your heart more than how you appear to others on the outside.
In these times, the Pharisees were seen as the epitome of “good.” They knew the Torah by heart, followed all the rules, and were seen as experts in the law.
However, despite how the Pharisees looked on the outside, many of them were actually dirty on the inside. They were relying on their own actions to obtain favor from God, and Jesus makes it clear to us that this is not how the Kingdom of God works.
Through this parable, we learn that the “dirty” tax collector is actually the one who is justified in the eyes of God because he humbled himself and repented before God.
In his heart, the tax collector knew that he wasn’t worthy of God’s grace and mercy, and he approached God from a stance of humility. Those who are humble will be exalted.
We have the opportunity to do the same today.
Dear God, I am so grateful that you are a caring and loving God. I am grateful that the state of my heart is more important to you than my outward appearance.
I am a sinner, and I don’t deserve your mercy, but in your goodness, you give it to me anyway. I pray to humble myself before you and to be more concerned with my dirty insides than how I appear on the outside. Thank you for loving me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
God cares about you and your heart more than how you appear on the outside. What a relief that He offers us his grace and mercy, even though we don’t deserve it.
Moving forward throughout your day, how can you shift your focus to the inside instead of the outside? I’ll be doing the same.
Blessings Friend.
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