Clay in the Hands

This past Saturday I had to finally bring myself to cut down three trunks of an oak tree.  We noticed last year that the leaves were not coming out as well in that area of the tree but thought maybe next year . . .  But, no that part of the tree is truly dead.  So I spent the day cutting, hauling and stacking wood and branches. 

As the first trunk crashed to the ground, I noticed in the cut I had just made, some white worms.  As we looked at the wood, we found holes bored all through it.  It appears that we found the culprits.  The first thought I had was, “I wonder if these little guys have friends and family eating away at our other oak trees.”  From the outside, the other trees look fine, but so did this one just a few short months ago.

The tree may have looked fine on the outside, but the inside was a different story.  The tree was being eaten away and was rotting.  It got me to thinking about people (as do most things I encounter).  Do people ever get into this situation – looking normal on the outside but suffering death on the inside?  Jesus used the metaphor of whitewashed tombs,  you can read about it here.  

What about you.  Do you work at appearing great on the outside but neglect the inside?  When people look at you, do they see a true picture or are you hiding what is really going on?  The point of the story today is not to make us feel bad, but rather to alert each of us to two facts.  The first is that we cannot ignore the inner life.  We must be committed and disciplined to spend time in God’s word and in prayer.  We do not ever want to fit Jesus’ description.  

The second fact is that we must never forget that the people we encounter may look like they have it all together but in reality, on the inside, they may be hurting.  God calls us to show grace and compassion – to everyone.