Whats inside a sponge?

Last night I was doing the dishes at my house and I started thinking about sponges. Stay with me, it will make sense.

How do you know what is inside of a sponge?

You Squeeze it right?

How do you know what is inside of a person?

You sueeze them right?

I have come to find the comparison between this common household cleaning item and humanity is quite true.

When life is great – our finances are good, making good grades, job situation is perfect, etc – it is easier for us to wear masks. When things are going our way, we are much better at guarding and filtering our outside actions and words to make ourselves look better.

However, if you want to find out what truly is inside a person, put them in tough situations. When we go through a crisis, stressful situations, and difficult circumstances, we lower our guard to our selves and inhibition takes over. In other words, we see what is truly on the inside when we are squeezed.

I am convinced that God cares about this. I am convinced that God cares way more about the inside than the outside. I think that is why Jesus is so serious and stern when he goes ballistic in Matthew 23:25-28…

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blink Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

What are you like on the inside? When you are squeezed, does love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and other things of God come flowing from the very core of who you are? Or does hate, bitterness, jealousy, anger, impatience, and other negative things come flowing from your inside when you are squeezed? God cares a lot about the inside…so should you.

How do you find out what is inside a sponge?

You squeeze it.

How do you find out what is inside a person?

You squeeze him/her