There is an expression in journalism in the form of a question: “What’s the inside scoop?” In other words, what is the real story? What is the real condition of things?
In the process of working on a wooden fence in the winter months of the San Joaquin Valley, the image shows what I saw:
Winter months in the valley are full of fog and overcast. The valley holds moisture because of surrounding mountains that trap air, temperature inversions keep agricultural pollutants near the ground, and temperatures hover at the dew point most days. So, an untreated fence gathers lots moisture. The surface develops lots of colorful lichens and molds. While colorful–even beautiful to some–they spell trouble. Moisture and these tell-tale additives weaken and destroy wood over time. So the yard can look great and the fences appear to be standing tall, but they are failing. Several sections of fence near this little section are falling over.
Roof leaks are similar. At the same location where I saw the fence, there is a roof leak in a small cottage. One solution, which I saw done, was to punch a hole in a ceiling to let the water drain rather than let it collect above the ceiling. Problem solved? What happens? The moisture stays in the attic, colorful molds appear in the house more often, the attic begins to gather various molds, the wood in the roof structure begins to weaken. With another decade of no proper correction, larger parts of the roof will fail. In the meantime, the rooms look fine. The furniture is comfy. The beds are made nicely. Outside the flowers bloom and the grass is cut. But there is a problem: the house is dying from within its primary structure. The protective fences look rustic but they are failing.
Welcome to a picture of the broken world of sin. The way with people is like the fence and the roof. We die within without correction to the real and primary problem: sin in the heart. We can clean the outside, look fine, comb the hair, and strut down the street looking or feeling sharp, but the heart remains dirty. A bad heart and unclean “insides” eventually become more manifest and kill us. There is only one solution, which is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ so that a rebirth occurs from within. That rebirth changes our path, direction, and destination. Dying life gives way to eternal life. So, you can remain satisfied with colorful trouble–things that look like they are OK but are not–or you can repent, be cleaned, and begin life a different way….before the roof falls in and the house is destroyed or the fence drops over.
Mark 7:21 …For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery…
Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
