As a real estate agent, I get to go in a lot of houses. Some are very nice, some are not so very nice, and some are just plain weird. I have seen basements with cardboard boxes stapled to the ceiling in place of ceiling tiles, a still, and even a room with a large black spot painted right smack in the middle of a wood floor.

But the saddest house I have shown was in Colonial Heights. It looked pretty from the road: a pretty painted exterior with a nice yard in a great neighborhood. It was only upon closer inspection that warning signs started appearing. There were more weeds than landscaping in the front flower beds, and the front door was crooked. And then we opened the door…

You could smell the mold. It wasn’t just a faint whiff; it was STRONG. There was mold on the walls, on the windows, everywhere. This house had problems; big problems!

Jesus talked about the same kind of thing with the Pharisees. He was angry because they looked “religious” but they didn’t back it up with actions. They exalted themselves, they preyed on widows, and were pretentious in their prayers, greetings and clothes. They would split hairs about every little thing, such as what one could swear by, but left the bigger picture– charity, mercy and love, unfinished. “Woe unto you, scribe 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.” Matthew 23:27

Jesus is concerned about us inside and out. He doesn’t want us to be like the house in Colonial Heights– nice on the outside, moldy on the inside.

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
I Cor. 3:16

We are God’s temples, right here on earth. As such, we have a duty to keep ourselves clean and unspotted. So how do we do it? How can we keep from getting moldy on the inside?

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalms 51:10

We pray. We read. We listen to God and let Him work in our lives. God is faithful, and will keep us all day, every day, if we let Him. He will fix our problems, even those that don’t show on the outside.

Needless to say, my client didn’t buy the house; it was too much work. I am glad that God never says that about me, and He will never say it about you, either!