Bein' Whitewashed

 Have you ever used whitewash?  I haven't, but a lot of the books I read mention it (remember Tom Sawyer?).  Basically, it's paint.  Paint makes things look pretty and new.  But have you ever painted over something only to later realize that you shouldn't have?  Take mildew.  If you paint over mildew without first scrubbing it out and killing it all, it will just grow back.  The paint doesn't fix the problem.  Paint is just a temporary cover up.  Our lives are like that.  If we think we will be better by looking better on the outside, we soon find that it is only a temporary cover up for a heart problem that needs to be fixed.  

Matthew 23:25-28 says:

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Here, Jesus is addressing the issue of "bein' whitewashed" rather than being clean.  To be clean, our hearts need to be clean.  That means that we need to be scrubbed clean with the blood of Jesus.  Looking clean on the outside doesn't work.  Inside, we will still be rotten and sin-sick.  We need to BE clean, really and truly.  It's a matter of the heart.