Camrys, Pine Needles & Pharisees

Last week I finally washed my car after collecting some 900 miles worth of bug guts on my front bumper--yuck. It needed it pretty bad, as you can imagine, and I finally had a free afternoon coincide with a pretty day. It took nearly 2 hours to make my car white again, but with warm water, soap, and alotta elbow grease, I gotter done. It felt so good to step back see a clean car again! I think it even smiled back at me!
The next time I got in the driver seat, I noticed there was one place on the windshield that didn't quite come off, but it was SO much better than before. At least it looked good from the outside looking in. However, when the sun shined through the back window, big ugly smudges suddenly appeared out of nowhere! What? I thought I cleaned this car! Next I looked down and saw the dirt and pine needles still sitting at my feet and realized that I was only halfway done with this car.
Seems to me there's something about this in the Bible. Not how to wash a car, but how to wash a cup--from the inside out.

"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. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."
Matthew 23:25-28

And some people say Scripture isn't relevant to the 21st century! I'm pretty sure the God of the Universe knew about cars before any mechanic did, and that He knew how to teach a foolish southern girl a lesson through her bug-covered-pine-needle-infested Camry.
I'm off to get the vacuum...