Your Cup

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Matthew 23:25-26 (NKJV).

When I think about this Scripture, I think about a cup (sometimes called mug) and its many uses. At home I have many different cups; however, as I look at them, they are basically the same. In His teachings, Jesus uses the Hebrew parable -- a mashal. "A mashal defines the unknown by using what is known."¹ The known is the cup ... that can represent the unknown, the soul of man.

A cup can be used for several things, and every use requires that it (the cup) hold something. It can hold water, juice, coffee, ink pens, paper, rings, dirt, pills, you name it. But the main function is to hold something. Our soul will do the same thing. Encounters from many years of living will collect dirt and trash in our personal cup (our soul). Sure, the blood of Jesus washes away our sins, but it's up to us to get rid of the dirt our souls have collected.

When we wash cups in the kitchen, we use a dish-washing liquid to do the job of cleansing. The dish-washing liquid alone will not clean the cup. It will take a combination of muscle for "scrubbing" the cup as well as the dish soap. As for our souls, the dish soap for us is the Blood of Jesus, and the muscle for our soul scrubbing is the Holy Spirit. 

Every day, dirty dishes collect in the sink, and they remain there until we actively connect with those dishes and clean them. To clean them is to handle them. Likewise, we must handle our personal business and actively clean our "soul" dishes, and get rid of that daily collection of dirt that has collected in our cup (soul) throughout the day.

We accomplish this task daily, by naming that dirt to God, every day. We take an aggressive move and "name" that dirt to God. Ask Him for forgiveness for the dirt you just called out by name to Him, that your personal dish soap (the blood of Jesus) will cleanse you from that dirt. That "scrubbing" by the Holy Spirit will immediately follow. After one has done this, there are times you may feel better about yourself, and there may be times you may not feel better about yourself. Nevertheless, He is always faithful to cleanse us, if we simply ask Him ... whether we feel it or not. We supply the confession, He supplies the cleaning. Remember, no one likes or uses a dirty cup.

Of course, we then have to make changes within our lives that will create change -- a change that will keep us from going back to that same old dirt again. Those changes could include, but aren't limited to, changing the way you talk & the way you walk & the people you associate with ... the books you read ... the movies you watch ... the church(s) you attend ... the late hours you keep ... the places where you "hang out" ... and so on. These changes will take a continuous effort on our part every day. We have to work hard on remaining clean of that dirt. It won't be easy, and you won't change it overnight, but with patience and prayer, you will gain victory over that ugly, dirt-collecting bad habit. One may have to seek counseling in order to change, which is okay. God Himself even said that we should seek godly counsel. To seek counsel in order to change and get rid of that dirt (and clean your cup) is normal. Not to seek counsel is abnormal.

This "cup-cleaning" process can't be done without the help of the Holy Spirit. When we decide to allow Jesus to have His input into our lives, the Holy Spirit (the agent of change/cleansing) will give us the muscle not only in helping us clean our own cup, but to maintaining a clean cup. Remain connected to Jesus.

¹Brad H. Young, The Parables; Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation. (Peabody Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers fifth printing), p.3.

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