This is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day.

How much do you like chocolate? Some people call themselves “chocoholics” because they are almost addicted to the sweet treat. They grab anything chocolate and have trouble controlling the urge. They would love this day. To them, “chocolate covered anything” sounds wonderful.

But is it? Chocolate covered nuts are OK. And cherries. And just about everyone likes cake, cookies, or ice cream covered in chocolate. But how would you like to bite into a chocolate covered onion, or cockroach, or dirt ball, or brussels sprout? Eeeewww! As your tongue hits the chocolate, you think, This is great. But then you reach what it covers and you spit it out faster than you can say Willie Wonka. What’s on the inside matters; in fact, it’s more important than the sweet covering.

Life can be like that too. It’s good to be sweet and nice on the outside. And we should try to be positive, pleasant, and fun to be around. But sometimes an appealing exterior can hide a difficult person. And if we are fooled by a phony exterior, when we learn the truth we can feel hurt and cheated.

One day Jesus encountered a group of religious leaders who were giving him a hard time and trying to trip him up. They looked great on the outside, all dressed up and saying all sorts of good-sounding religious words. But inside they were pretty bad. So Jesus told them the truth about themselves. Read his harsh language in today’s verse.

The lesson is clear: we should be careful about what’s on the inside of our lives, even more than the outside. God wants genuine people—no phonies—whose hearts are right, who truly love and obey him.

How are you on the inside?

How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity (Matthew 23:27).

To Do

In honor of this day, get yourself a chocolate covered treat. As you enjoy the candy, think of how you can be more Christ-like in your thoughts, motives, and attitudes.

Also on this day

1773—Colonial patriots, dressed like Indians, dumped nearly 350 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. This is now known as the Boston Tea Party.

1901—The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter was printed for the first time.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.