Inside Out

Reading from Psalm 24:3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. 5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.  God desires for us to come before His throne in worship, and He has made a way through the death and resurrection of Jesus, His Son.   But, because of our sinfulness, we are separated from God - that is why we need a Savior, who can make us right with God and purify our hearts, so we can enjoy fellowship with our Maker.

Here are the words found in Titus chapter 2:
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

As I was returning from Birmingham the other night, I had a chance to dine at one of my favorite hamburger restaurants, which we don't have in Montgomery and South Alabama - an establishment that is known for its incredible special sauce.   And, I enjoy sitting down and having a fine juicy hamburger.   I don't know if it's applicable to this chain, but earlier this year, another fast food chain announced that it would be discontinuing the use of the controversial meat product known as boneless lean beef trimmings in its burgers, or BLBT.  

So, now we discover that a ground beef hamburger may have this BLBT in it, also referred to as "pink slime".  And, the US Department of Agriculture has said that starting this fall, schools will be able to choose whether or not they buy hamburger that contains the pink stuff, which is described as being like gelatin.

Last week, ABC News reported that the filler is found in 70 percent of ground beef in supermarkets.

The president of the American Meat Institute is quoted by ABC as saying:

"BLBT...is a sustainable product because it recovers lean meat that would otherwise be wasted."  OK, but before the manufacturer found a way to use it by disinfecting the trimmings with ammonia, it was sold only to dog food or cooking oil suppliers.

So, I don't want to create panic or even mild concern, because after all, "pink slime" is still meat, but it does remind us that outward appearance doesn't give us the whole story sometimes.   And, this is particularly applicable in our spiritual lives.   In fact, Jesus warned against dressing up the outside, when inside our hearts are full of thoughts and motives that are not pleasing to Him.   And, while we may want to display a veneer of holiness and spiritual maturity, it could be that inside there is a far different story.   That is why the Bible deals with the topic of clean hearts so often - because what's in our hearts, no matter how much we try to suppress, deny, hide or ignore it, will manifest itself in our behavior.   So, we need for God to change us from the inside out - so that what others see is the character of Christ within us, not something we conjure up ourselves to make people think that we are somewhat holy.