file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db941114.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                        Monday, November 14, 1994
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READ:  Matthew 23:25-28

                 "A CHANGE OF HEART"

   "First cleanse the inside of the cup and dish,
    that the outside of them may be clean also."

                   - Matthew 23:26

Have you heard about the man who took his old car to a
dealer and asked him to sell it for him?  When the
dealer asked how many miles were on it, the man replied,
"It's got 230,000."  The salesman replied, "It'll never
sell unless you turn back the mileage."  So the man left.

When the car salesman hadn't heard from the man for
several weeks, he called him.  "I thought you were going
to sell that old car."

"I don't have to anymore," came the reply.  "It's only
got 77,000 miles on it now.  Why should I sell it?"

This story illustrates a spiritual truth.  Too many
people today are only fooling themselves if they think
they're pleasing God by just changing their external
behavior.  What they need is a new heart.

The old car still had a sick engine, bad rings, a
transmission that slipped.  Turning back its odometer
had not changed that!  In the same way, people who try
to please God by living a good life without first
trusting in Christ are like the Pharisees who were clean
on the outside but still filthy on the inside (Mt. 23:25).

Good works can't change your heart.  Only personal faith
in Christ brings cleansing inside and out.  Then your good
works and righteous life will be pleasing to God.

    -- David C. Egner

 We cannot earn new life in heaven
     By word or work or worth;
 But when we trust in Jesus Christ,
    He'll give to us new birth.

    -- Anon.

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        THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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     We're saved by God's good work,
       not by our good works.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  Acts 13-14

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Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of
Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49555, USA.
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