”Then the Lord said to him, ’Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people!’ ”
Luke 11:39-40a

A few years ago, I led a Bible Study for Middle School girls. When they moved to High School, I was able to then move up with them and lead them through High School too. It was such a wonderful experience to get to know them for a long period of time and to see them grow and change. We moved away before they graduated and now they are all in college, which is really surreal.

Of course, the girls would always come to Bible Study all ”done up” – hair, makeup, cute clothes, etc. One week we had a lesson on this very verse. We talked about all of the things they did to help their appearance (straighten their hair, highlights, tanning, shopping, makeup, etc). We talked about how God wants us to make sure that we take care of ourselves and the things they were doing for their appearance were not bad. However, I then asked what they did to prepare their spirits for the day. Some said that they said prayers in the morning, a few read the Bible here and there, and of course they all went to Bible Study and church each Sunday. I gave them a challenge. They had to spend as much time beautifying their spirit (spending time with God) as they did beautifying their outward appearance. That gave them a new perspective and a very hard challenge.

I know that I get caught up with things that I ”need” to get done in the morning and sometimes my spiritual studies get pushed to the side or shortened. However, in reality, it is more important for our souls to be beautiful than our outward appearances. I would hate for God to look at me and call ME a fool.