As the old adage suggests, appearances are deceiving. Yet, it is the first most noticeable attribute to our human eyes, so time and time again we end up making mistakes by taking outward appearance for the mark of true character, true commitment and true devotion.
True Character
Judges 9:1-10:18
"One day the trees decided to appoint a king to rule over them. They said to the olive tree, 'You be king over us!' But the olive tree said, 'Men and gods are honored by my oil. Should I stop making it and go and sway over the other trees?'...Then all the trees said to the thornbush, 'Come and be king over us.' But the thornbush said to the trees, 'If you really want to appoint me king over you, come and find shelter in my shade! But if not, let fire come out of the thornbush and burn up the cedars of Lebanon!' Now were you completely honest and sincere when you made Abimelech king? Have you been fair to Gideon and his family? Have you treated Gideon as you should?" (Judges 9:8-9, 14-16)
A little background about this interesting story... you'll remember from yesterday that Gideon had died and the people were not kind to his family. (They had forgotten him.) Now, the people of Shechem needed to choose another king, and they saw that out of Gideon's seventy sons, Abimelech was a relative of theirs, since he was son to a slave woman. This seems to have been the sole reason that they chose Abimelech as their king. Abimelech went on to kill Gideon's seventy sons, all except for Jotham, who tells this story and brings into question whether the people in choosing Abimelech as their king have examined his true character and thought about how he might 'burn up the cedars of Lebanon.' Lord, teach me not to be quick to judge, and to value in myself and others the beautiful characteristics that Your Holy Spirit fills us with.
True Commitment
Psalm 50:1-6
"He calls to the sky above and to the earth that he might judge his people. He says, 'Gather around, you who worship me, who have made an agreement with me, using a sacrifice.' God is the judge, and even the skies say he is right." (Psalm 50:4-6)
The USA is full of people who 'go to church on Sunday,' who have some vague idea of what religion they 'believe' in, yet many leave their 'beliefs' in the church pew. True belief and commitment to our Lord God is not something that happens on Sunday or special 'days of obligation.' Our agreement to follow Him is something that affects our whole lives on such a deep level, not just the 'surface' level. We worship Him inwardly and outwardly, and Lord I praise You that You are the only judge... the one that 'the skies say is right.' You see our belief in You which runs too deep for human eyes to see it.
True Devotion
Luke 16:1-31
"The Pharisees, who loved money, were listening to all these things and made fun of Jesus. He said to them, 'You make yourselves look good in front of people, but God knows what is really in your hearts. What is important to people is hateful in God's sight." (Luke 16:14-15)
Typical... that's what I think of this account. Here we see the Pharisees' reaction to Jesus' remark that you must serve one master and cannot serve both God and money. A typical reaction I believe, because it deeply challenged how the Pharisees were living. Whenever we are comfortable in our ways and those ways are challenged, we criticize those new ideas and make fun of the ideas that if we internalized them might necessitate change. In today's quite isolated individualistic society, it's easy to 'look good in front of people.' Not so in Campo Limpo where everyone knew everyone's business... there was no public or private sphere in our community. Everyone knew who was who, what they had done, where they had lived, who they were related to, everything. If someone bought a new anything it was the word on the street. But even if we live in a society where outward appearance in public is divided from inner private experience, God knows what is on our hearts. Lord, teach me how to keep Your will and Your love, all good things, on my heart... not what is important to people but what is important to You, Lord.
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