First cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside may be clean also. Matthew 23:26

'Hi, Mom, I'm home.' Bursting through the door, Erik rushed over to the cookie jar to grab a handful of Mom's homemade cookies. When he lifted the lid, the jar was empty.

'Mom, where are all the cookies?' Erik was puzzled. This was the first time he'd found the jar empty.

'I gave them away to some needy people. But I picked up some nice apples at the farmer's market. They're fresh from the tree this morning. Look how red they are. Don't they smell great,' Mom answered.

Erik selected the biggest, reddest apple from the bowl. Happily he dug his teeth into the crunchy fruit. As he pulled the apple from his mouth, he saw a fat round white worm.

'Yuck! Mom, this apple has a worm in it!' Erik yelled. 'I nearly bit a worm? Yuck.'

'Oops.' Mom took a little knife and cut another apple into four pieces. 'This one's alright. Here, have it.'

As Erik munched on the good apple, Mom sat beside him.  'There's a lesson here, Erik,' she said. 'Sometimes people are like the apple with the worm. Everything looks good on the outside - but it's a different story on the inside. I know that's true because Jesus told us so.'

Sally E. Smith. Blind River, Canada.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus. Help me to be clean and pure on the inside. Amen.