More than a movie set

One of my favorite snapshots is of my wife and I standing in the streets of New York. You can see the high-rises off in the distance peaking over the brownstones with their iconic stoops. If you look closer though you'll notice that those buildings don't look quite right. What looks like a scene from New York is actually a back lot in Florida. We weren't in New York City but standing in front of a plywood city.

One of the greatest tragedies of religion is its external focus. That if the right things are done and said in the right ways, then your all right. That substance can be an afterthought.

Jesus was invited to have dinner with one of the local religious leader, a Pharisee. Before every meal this unnamed Pharisee had the practice of ceremonially washing his hands. He followed a particular pattern and sequence to ensure his cleanliness. To the Pharisee's shock and offense, Jesus' didn't share the same pattern.

Perhaps the Pharisee was thinking, "How could this Jesus be a man of God if he doesn't wash himself the way that I did? He's offending me."

Jesus picks up that something is wrong and says to him "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy -- full of greed and self-indulgence" (NLT).

Everything on the outside, what could be seen, what was judged by, all looked great. It should look great. He spent a lot of time making sure that everything that could be seen looked incredible. Plenty of plywood but no real city.

Who you are and who God is shaping you to be according to His word matters. You and I could spend our entire lives trying to do what is thought to be right, impressing so many along the way, only to find out at the end that God's not as impressed.

Jesus says there is a cleanliness that radiates from the inside out. Christianity is about being made righteous not just doing right things. That no amount of external cleansing ritual can bring about the internal life change that God is working toward.

God has more in store for your life than keeping the right rules in the right ways.

Substance matters.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father, minister and writer. Read more from him at www.robhurtgen.wordpress.com.