Inside Out

Luke 7: ³⁶ Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. ³⁷ And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, ³⁸ and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

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Garnished with a smile, I stepped into church. With worries as high as a mountain, I dare not smile and say “everything is fine” in front of the group. No one asked how I was doing, no one checked in the next week.

• There were times when the hurt outweighed the wealth.
• There were times when something inside just had to come out.
• There were times when I wanted to cry out, but had not place to do it.

The woman had a reputation of doing sinful things. She may have even been wealthy as she held an expensive alabaster flask of fragrant oil to anoint JESUS’s head. She was so hurt that she used her tears and hair to wash HIS feet. The Pharisee on the other hand criticized her lifestyle.

• GOD wants me to throw away my criticism.
• GOD wants me to stop looking at what other people are doing and tell HIM about my sin.
• GOD wants me to seek HIM when I am hurting.

The phonier the church, the more masks are worn by the attendees. Pharisees criticize people for their imperfections, BUT GOD sees through this. HE wants the sinner to be able to confess their sin without being damaged more. HE also does a wonderful thing by allowing me to come to HIM with any problem.

• Are you hurting?
• Is life up one day and down the next?
• Can you seek GOD directly with your hurt, worries and problems today?