by: Cris Corzine-McCloskey
My neighbors moved out last week. To be more precise, my neighbors were evicted. After the eviction, the landlord discovered her once pristine home was so filth encrusted it will have to be gutted down to the studs. What is ironic is how immaculate the renters had kept the outside. Best looking yard on the street, and always the first to display their expensive and trendy seasonal décor. Wayfair ad on the outside, house of horrors inside.
But we see a lot of that in or culture, don’t we? People look resplendent in their designer duds, carrying their Michael Kors bags. All the while, they are drowning in debt and unhappiness. We call them “posers.” But there is truly nothing new under the sun, and posers have been around since Jesus’ day. Only then they weren’t called posers, they were called Pharisees.
The Pharisees were a group of uber-religious guys who prided themselves on being “holy.” They liked their status and fancy clothes, and they believe they had cornered the market on God. They looked great from the outside, but inside they were full of bitterness, anger, greed, jealousy, unforgiveness, and most of all, pride.
Modern-day poser, ancient day Pharisee. The symptoms are the same. Lookin’ good in the neighborhood, but the inside is full of yuck and muck.
I pray you hear my heart on this one; I don’t care about the frequency of your church attendance or how much you tithe if you are hiding bitterness and unforgiveness in your heart, you are a poser. If you are full of pride, jealousy, and anger, you are not okay. You are hoarding nastiness behind your Wayfair exterior.
The thing that sticks out in my mind about my neighbor’s home is grime like that had to have accumulated slowly. I had been in that home before it was a rental. It was so clean and cute. I bet the renters never intended to let it get that gross. Once the mess started, they had to have slowly become acclimated to the filth and stench, or they never could have lived in there. The same thing happens to our hearts if we don’t watch it.
The Bible tells us to guard our hearts because out of the heart flows the issues of life. The problem is, once trash starts accumulating, we can become aren’t even aware it’s there. Or, if we are aware, we feel our reason for hoarding unforgiveness or pride qualifies us to be an exception to the edicts of Christianity. If this is you, I encourage you to get real about the condition of your heart.
If you don’t know if it’s you, Jesus said we have a way to know what’s inside our hearts. We pay attention to what’s coming out of our mouths. Here is your indicator, if you enjoy gossip, if you are quick to pass judgment, get angry, or catch yourself making big boasts or putting others down, you have a hoarded heart problem. It’s full of yuck and muck. Time to strip it down to the studs!
Luckily, we have a cleanup crew only a prayer away, and we call Him the Holy Spirit. It is His job to remodel your heart. All you have to do is be willing to admit you have a problem and ask for His help. Go ahead, open up the doors and windows, and let Him go to work making the inside match the outside.
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