1 John 2:17 (ESV)
17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Luke 11:40-41 (MSG)
37-41 When he finished that talk, a Pharisee asked him to dinner. He entered his house and sat right down at the table. The Pharisee was shocked and somewhat offended when he saw that Jesus didn’t wash up before the meal. But the Master said to him, “I know you Pharisees burnish the surface of your cups and plates so they sparkle in the sun, but I also know your insides are maggoty with greed and secret evil. Stupid Pharisees! Didn’t the One who made the outside also make the inside? Turn both your pockets and your hearts inside out and give generously to the poor; then your lives will be clean, not just your dishes and your hands.

Stupid Pharisees! Didn’t the One who made the outside also make the inside? Duh, don’t ya get it? Pretty blunt red letter words from Christ.

As the Pharisee goes, so do I, and I bet, so do we. We get shocked and offended by what we see, yet we’re trotting along sinning against the rules of our Father (we worry about the rules of nature and many give more worth to that than the rules of God – weird). Dirty on the inside — full of sin, full of self, full of resentments, full of everything but God. Oh well, so what….

But the world is passing away, just like it’s been predicted. God’s time is not our time – a thousand years are a day and a day is a thousand years. Weird, but He’s God so He can do it that way if He wants. The world is in our control and it’s spinning out of control – at least today it is. Let’s not forget a few world wars in the last 120 years, a couple of genocides, famines, etc. I mean, we’ve got this, right?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV)
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

Don’t be a stupid Pharisee polishing your outside while thinking you’re hiding your inside. Boy, I sure resemble that remark after the first three words. Run the race with an effort, with purpose, with drive, with passion, with love, with desire, with a purpose to know Him better.

In a world that’s racing to it’s eventual end, race instead to imperishable wealth and abide in God’s amazing grace forever.