I reuse coffee mugs.

I know. Everyone does. But most people wash them out between uses. I don’t. Not always anyway. I will reuse a mug several times over several days, rinsing occasionally, before I give in and put it in the dishwasher.

Often, I will wipe the drips off the outside of the mug so other people aren’t distracted by the mess. Or I’ll just use a dark mug.

Some of you are cringing. Some of you are saying, “Of course. Coffee kills germs.” All of you are understanding what Jesus was saying when he said the Pharisees washed the outside of the cup but left the inside grungy.

We all are hypocrites. We all have gaps between what we say we believe and what we live we believe. The text of our words, when compared with the text of our actions, always differs. The question is not, whether. The question is, now what?

Now that I acknowledge there is a gap, what am I doing about it?

Some of us shrug. Some of us say, “we will never be perfect this side of glory” as if that is a valid excuse for anything. Some of us keep polishing the outside of the mug, painting the outside of the tomb white, as if that will distract from the smell that begins to leak out, from the oily scum that begins to form.

What do we do?

We admit that the mug is dirty. We start washing the mug daily (instead of making lazy excuses). We stop worrying about how it looks to admit that you struggle. We stop trying to impress anyone–God or your wife.

The more willing we are to admit to weakness and work on learning how to be stronger, the better the surface will look.