Matthew 23:26
“Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.”
If you’ll take care of the unseen (the inside of the cup) the rest will take care of itself. Trying to clean up the outside, however, while leaving the inside uncared for, only produces hypocrisy. This is why any program designed to improve humanity which doesn’t deal with the heart of man can never achieve results. It’s like trying to sugar coat dung. No matter how hard you try, or what measures you take, it’s still dung.
Yeah, I know it stinks, but that’s just the way it is. The only remedy is transformation at the heart level, i.e. the new birth. This is God’s solution to the sin (dung) problem.
For those of us who have been born again, the focus continues to be on the inside. We continually check our hearts and examine our motives, we continually maintain inner virtue, which manifests itself in the way we think and the things we imagine. If we’ll keep the inside right, and take care of the unseen, that inner development will always shine outward and reveal the work of God in our lives.
Take care of the inside, friend, and the outside is going to take care of itself.