Today I conquered a chore I’ve not done in. . .hmmmm, well, I don’t think I’ve done this particular chore ever since we moved in here. Ahem, as ashamed as I am to admit this, it is true. I have not cleaned my oven in 7 years. But, this week, it started to stink. Like, when we’d put stuff in the oven to bake, a very gross, burning odor would emanate from the inside of the oven. 7 years of over-flowed apple pies and dropped pancakes had finally caught up with me.
Usually I keep the outside of my oven and stove top looking very nice. You’d never guess at the ugliness lurking within. In fact, delicious things also come out of my oven despite the build up of crustiness; baked salmon, chocolate cake, cookies, garlic bread, to name a few. Who needs to clean up the inside, when I can still cook well and the outside looks so pretty? I’ll just scrub the top again, place the teakettle just so, and hang a pretty tea towel on the door.
Kinda reminds me of myself sometimes. Oh I can look good on the outside and I can even churn out some good tasting, good smelling stuff, but my insides can be pretty ugly.
“Then the Lord said,’Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me,’” Isa. 29:13
Our hearts are important to God. What is on the inside is far more important to him than our pretty exteriors.
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
“ Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” I Peter 3:3, 4
Having been a Christian pretty much my whole life, it’s easy for me to “talk the talk.” I can go to church in my dressy clothes with my hair and make-up just so, but have an attitude that is so far from pleasing to Jesus. There are sometimes all kinds of ugly things hiding in my heart. Things like pride, lust, envy, anger, and discontent, just to name a few.
We need to clean our ovens, so to speak. The world sees our pretty stovetops, but God sees inside. Here’s what He tells us to do:
”Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him —a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
”And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” Col. 3:5-17
Of course, the goal in all of this, is to do this “putting on” daily. We really don’t want to wait 7 years for the yuckiness to build up in our lives and hamper our spiritual lives and our walk with God. But, when we consider that our insides are just as important as our outsides, probably even MORE important, we too, can sparkle and bear good fruit, er uh, cakes…
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