Inside and Outside

Luke 11:39-40,52 NKJV

39Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. 40Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?… 52“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

Are you a Pharisee? Do you profess one thing with your lips while you live another? Are you good at instructing others in what is right while you do the opposite? Are you good at telling others how they ought to live but while you keep living in sin and in direct defiance of our Lord’s commands? Are you good at appearing good on the outside while inside you are full of filth and wickedness? Are you good at reciting the teachings of the Scriptures but while you deny them for your own life and practice? Do you perform well for an audience while you hide your sins in secret, hoping no one will know?

Are you like a robot who can go through the motions of what is required but without any heart and soul behind them? Are you just repeating what you know you should say but the words are soulless? It’s words, and it may even be the right words, but the words are empty because the heart and soul are empty of God and of his Spirit. Certainly you have heard people read to others but who put no inflection in what they say, no passion behind the words, and so it is dull to those who listen. That is what it is like when someone speaks words but their hearts are not behind them. They are dull.

But not just dull to the listener, but dull (empty, lifeless, and stale) in the sight of God. The mouth is moving, or perhaps the fingers are typing or writing, but there is no heart and soul behind them because the heart and the soul are given over to what is evil, instead. The heart and soul are under the control of the devil and are not under God’s control. But they want to make an impression that their lives belong to the Lord and/or that they are in the process of being given over to God, but while the opposite is true. For what is outward is not a true reflection of what is going on in the inside.

And many who live this way not only do not convince others to walk rightly with God, but many of them do the opposite. For, in order to justify their own sinful lifestyles and ungodly practices they alter the gospel of Christ to make it more appealing to the flesh and to the ungodly. So they give out what they believe is a “friendlier” version of the gospel so that people will like them but while they direct them straight to hell on the promise of heaven. So, not only are they not on their way to heaven but they hinder those who were pursuing the way of God from entering into eternal life.

And, sadly, this is where many people are these days, professing one thing with their lips, but while they live the opposite knowingly and deliberately in direct defiance of our Lord and his commands. They perform well for an audience, and people may even admire and respect them, and look up to them, but the outside is not what is reflected on the inside, and vice versa. What they speak may sound good, and they may perform well for an audience, but they are fakes. Or their speech may be dull because it does not reflect what is truly in their hearts because it is in performance only.

So the Lord is calling out to all who are pretending on the outside what or who they are not on the inside to repent and to be honest. And this isn’t just about those who are faking their Christianity, but this is about those who are faking their desire for God, or their desire to have a change of heart and of mind resulting in a change of behavior, i.e. genuine repentance. This is about all whose words do not match what is truly going on inside their hearts but who are just going through the motions of desire for the Lord in order to impress or to fool others. Repent and obey God from this day forward.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22] 

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Your bond is broken with your Lord and Savior

And your testimony is separate from Him.

Your words not matching your actions today.

Repent of your sin and bow down and pray.

Live what you testify in truth always.

Purity’s lacking in your life and witness,

For you profess one thing, but other you do.

Not moral, spiritual. Still of the flesh.

Not living in truth to what you confess.

Lying about it puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice, ‘tis true of you.

Masquerade righteousness – none of it true.

Your heart is not given to your Lord God.

Because of how you live, you are a fraud.

Turn from your sin and give your life to God.

https://vimeo.com/287303934

Inside and Outside

An Original Work / May 13, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love