Now I pray to God
that you do no evil,
not that we should appear approved,
but that you should do
what is honourable...
2 Corinthians 13:7
Appearances.
That's the theme for today. How many of us want to "appear" nice or generous or important or "approved"?
The Apostle says that it is what we "do" that makes us honorable, not how we "appear."
On the Sermon on the Mount -- Matthew 6 -- Jesus took this a step further, saying that it's often what we do "in secret" that the Father will reward. For example, when fasting, Jesus doesn't want us to "appear" haggard and gaunt to draw attention to our own sacrifice. Fasting and all spiritual disciplines are between us and God.
In another example, Jesus berated the wealthy for making a show of how much they were giving -- appearances -- and commended a poor widow who was quietly putting in her last two cents.
When we focus on appearances, we run the risk of being like the Pharisees whom Jesus once called "white-washed tombs," We definitely don't want to be clean on the outside and full of death on the inside!
In Christ's Love,
a guy who needs to be white-washed,
because on my own, I do have death inside
(Wash me white, Lord Jeaus.)
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