Today’s Scripture Reading (October
25, 2013): Joel 2
Appearances matter.
It is simple the truth of life. The first thing that we notice about someone is
what they look like. It is very superficial, on a very real level it is
unpredictable, and yet it is exactly what we do. And as much as we deny that
reality, we prepare for it. On Sunday mornings I can walk into any church in
the world and the people will look good. I know the truth, a lot of the people
that are occupying the seats looking great are simply messed up, but they have
worked hard to hide that – and the result of the hard work is that they look
good. But what we see is what they are presenting on the outside. So we often
make important assumptions about their lives on a facade that they have worked
hard to create – but that is not true.
On the other
side of the coin, when things are going bad we often work hard to recreate that
in our behavior and the way that we look. And sometimes, when bad happens we
try to recreate that in our behavior – even if we are not really feeling the
moment.
It is not a
new behavior. Jesus got really descriptive in his portrayal of the religious
leaders of his day. He told the them that they were like a cup that had been
cleaned on the outside but were filthy on the inside. They might look good in
the cupboard, but no one would want to drink from them. He also said that they
were like a tomb that had been painted to look good on the outside, but inside
something was dead and decaying. He also pointed at the practices the
professional mourners, the people that were paid to dress as if they were sad
and mourn the death of someone that someone else had loved. They would mourn
and cry, but it was all really just an act. They weren’t really feeling it.
Joel is
speaking to a nation that is going through a disaster. Part of the reason for
the disaster is that they had turned their heart away from God. And now, they
were turning back to God, they were repenting of their sins and they were
actively mourning the things that they had done that had brought on the
disaster. But God spoke through Joel the truth of the situation. You are sorry
because of the situation that you are in, but not really sorry for the behavior
that brought on the disaster. The truth was that they were just trying to
appear the way that they thought they were supposed to appear – but for God
that just wasn’t good enough. God wanted them to be real – for the outside to
match the inside.
Being real
just might be the biggest gift that we can give to those around us. Letting the
inside match the outside releases the expectation of the façade and allows the
people around us to be real back. And if we don’t like the way the inside
looks, being real gives us the opportunity to admit something needs to change
that. Appearances matter. But true spiritual health does not happen until the
outside and the inside begin to match each other.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joel 3
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