COULD YOU BE FOUND GUILTY?
Matthew 23:2
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
Several years ago a friend and myself were hunting high on a ridge, above the Tallapoosa River in northcentral Alabama and came across 12 old white headstones. These stones stood out brightly in a dark woods. There were stones from a few infants as well as several men that died while working a a job constructing a hydroelectric dam just down the hill. Unless a person knew of these graves, hidden in the hills overgrown with vines and brush, these people were all but forgotten.
I've enjoyed times when I've gotten to go into the woods and look at old graveyards. There are a few near our area that I always find interesting. They are, like the graveyard in Alabama, very old and overgrown and when I've been in there it is a little eerie thinking about the men, women and children who's lives are represented by a simple white stone and now forgotten by most everyone.
The verse in Mathew 23 speaks to this... A life that on the outside is like a pretty white stone, but inside there are rotting bones. And most of these people are forgotten because their life stood for little of eternal consequence. But they look good to most everyone... yet they have nothing of eternal value while still alive.
One evening a while ago, while listening to Christian radio, someone asked, "if you were accused of being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
All of us, if asked that question, should immediately look inside to answer honestly. Is there enough evidence in my life that others would stand up and point and say GUILTY! Or are we, like the whitewashed tomb, looking good on the outside, but rotting on the inside, full of nothing of true value. I suggest that we all need to look within ourselves to see what others see in our lives.
Do others see something that is different from what they see in the world? Do they see someone that stands for what they believe and are willing to stand no matter what the consequences? Do they see a love and concern for others?
We will all mess up and make bad decisions, some even sinful decisions... many of them will be hidden from the public's view... but some will be seen. Even in those times do others see a heart that is broken because of our choices? Do they see in our lives a person that is sold out for Jesus Christ? Or can they not tell you and I from the rest of the world?
I pray that each one reading this is found GUILTY! How do you plead?
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