John 9:39-41
Jesus then said, "I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind."
Some Pharisees overheard him and said, "Does that mean you're calling us blind?" Jesus said, "If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you're accountable for every fault and failure."
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
You may have witnessed a young child get by with something for which you would have been “given the business” in “Leave-It-To-Beaver-speak.” You may have even asked your parent or the person in charge, “Why doesn’t he/she get in trouble for that?” The answer may be… “Because he/she doesn’t know any better.” You can forgive a toddler for dropping your precious dish and breaking it far easier than you can forgive a teenager who is rough-housing and acting irresponsibly.
In the same way, if someone knowingly tells a secret, you may feel angry or betrayed. But if someone walks into a room and innocently “spills the beans”… unaware that they are not supposed to tell… you might feel upset, but you can’t direct your frustration toward that individual… because it’s not really his/her fault.
When it comes to our relationship with God, we are the Pharisees in this passage. Let’s be honest, we claim to have it all figured out. We think we know who the “saints” and “sinners” are… and we are pretty sure we don’t fall into that last category. Our church is the best… we know more about the Bible than the next guy… and in many instances, it’s our way or the highway. And we think we have our relationship with God sewn up, too. We are so good… we go to church each Sunday… we even go sometimes on Wednesday night. We sing in the choir, and we go on mission trips… and we are active in our school and community. We’re such good people.
But at the same time, we don’t care one whit about the guy down the street. We haven’t noticed who else came to church, much less bothered to ask about that guy who used to sit next to us all the time and hasn’t been there in months. We don’t call or visit the sick, help the poor and needy, or even take time to check on our own elderly relatives. We’re so busy being good Christians! We have our hands full serving God in our own way… and looking really good doing so!
What we don’t see is that we are the rough-housing teenager. We are wielding our faith like a light saber, and then we want God to forgive us when we break something or hurt Him or some of His children. We want God to pat us on the back and say, “It’s okay… I know you didn’t mean to neglect others. I know you were too busy to care about the homeless and the hungry or speak kindly to people you meet. I understand that serving on a church mission team is far more impressive than tutoring little kids after school. You were exactly right to make that big donation to the community projects fund… no wonder you didn’t have a spare dollar to help that young mother pay her grocery bill. So what if she had to put back a few jars of baby food!”
I’ve probably overstated my point here, but let’s be honest… we get so caught up in making a show to God and others that we sometimes forget Him completely. We think we know what God wants better than He does, and we never bother to ask Him… much less listen. It’s time to humble ourselves before God and say, “I am truly blind. I don’t really see what YOU see… but I want to. Open my eyes to YOUR truths… YOUR plans… YOUR will for my life… and show me how to truly serve you.”
We are indeed accountable for every fault and failure unless we honestly and humbly surrender to God… put our shortcomings, selfishness and self-serving behaviors at the feet of Jesus, and ask Him to forgive them all. What are you seeing these days? Are you blind to your own shortcomings… or to the true will of your Heavenly Father? Have you let God expose you as blind, so that you might really see? Isn’t it time you did?
©2011 Debbie Robus
Showing posts with label phonies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phonies. Show all posts
Daily Devotional for April 25, 2011
Luke 12:1-3
By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other's toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus' primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, "Watch yourselves carefully so you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be exposed. You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can't whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day's coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
Have you ever been in a situation where someone told you just what you wanted to hear… nice compliments… positive statements… big promises? In essence, they “buttered you up” and made you feel really good about yourself and/or a particular situation. Maybe a coach promised you that you would play at a certain position and be a key component to the success of the team. Or maybe an employer promised you all sorts of great things about a new job – or a new position in your present job.
Maybe someone promised to love you and take care of you and “be yours forever.” Maybe someone who had not behaved well in the past promised to turn over a new leaf and “do better this time.” But as time went along in each of these situations, things changed. The person who had made all the big promises and statements revealed his/her “true self,” and things were markedly different than what you had believed.
We like to think we are pretty good at spotting phonies. Nobody wants to think they are gullible or can be taken advantage of easily. But the truth is, the devil has people waiting on every corner to do just that. So we have to be on guard… we have to ask God to give us wisdom and discernment… and we have to take everything to Him in prayer and seek His opinion before we make any commitments of any kind… body, mind, and/or soul!
In the same way, we must ask God to help us never to be guilty of deceiving another person. We must always be “the real deal.” We can’t be hypocritical and say we are disciples of Christ, then act foolishly or behave in ways that make others question our faith. We can’t treat someone kindly in public and then talk badly about him/her in private. We cannot write a letter to the editor and disrespect our President or another person or group of people - or be derogatory or cruel - and then stand on Sunday and sing praises to God in a worship service, read scripture with the congregation, or lead others in Bible study.
Think about this… imagine being in a group of people who are kind to you, include you in their conversations, and speak respectfully – even loyally to you. Then you walk away, and later you learn that the minute you were gone, at least one person in that group began to talk about you. Maybe they even called you every name in the book. At the very least, they were critical, unkind, and cruel… and they encouraged others to behave in the same way. Hurts even to think about it, doesn’t it?! Now realize that, in essence, that is exactly what we do to Jesus day in and day out… in dozens of ways. Every time we are phony or hypocritical, we are treating Jesus just like this. How much does that hurt to consider?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a phony. I do not want to disrespect my LORD and Savior – or anyone else – in this way. I want to be “the real deal” at all times, because that is who Jesus calls me to be. I want my faith to be honest and genuine… and I want others to know that I mean what I say, and I take my cues from God. What about you? Are you wearing a mask and using it to hide who you really are? Do you pretend to be Godly and then “act a fool” when you think nobody’s looking? Isn’t it time you got real with God… and with others? Wouldn’t today be a good time to start?
©2011 Debbie Robus
By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other's toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus' primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, "Watch yourselves carefully so you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be exposed. You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can't whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day's coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
Have you ever been in a situation where someone told you just what you wanted to hear… nice compliments… positive statements… big promises? In essence, they “buttered you up” and made you feel really good about yourself and/or a particular situation. Maybe a coach promised you that you would play at a certain position and be a key component to the success of the team. Or maybe an employer promised you all sorts of great things about a new job – or a new position in your present job.
Maybe someone promised to love you and take care of you and “be yours forever.” Maybe someone who had not behaved well in the past promised to turn over a new leaf and “do better this time.” But as time went along in each of these situations, things changed. The person who had made all the big promises and statements revealed his/her “true self,” and things were markedly different than what you had believed.
We like to think we are pretty good at spotting phonies. Nobody wants to think they are gullible or can be taken advantage of easily. But the truth is, the devil has people waiting on every corner to do just that. So we have to be on guard… we have to ask God to give us wisdom and discernment… and we have to take everything to Him in prayer and seek His opinion before we make any commitments of any kind… body, mind, and/or soul!
In the same way, we must ask God to help us never to be guilty of deceiving another person. We must always be “the real deal.” We can’t be hypocritical and say we are disciples of Christ, then act foolishly or behave in ways that make others question our faith. We can’t treat someone kindly in public and then talk badly about him/her in private. We cannot write a letter to the editor and disrespect our President or another person or group of people - or be derogatory or cruel - and then stand on Sunday and sing praises to God in a worship service, read scripture with the congregation, or lead others in Bible study.
Think about this… imagine being in a group of people who are kind to you, include you in their conversations, and speak respectfully – even loyally to you. Then you walk away, and later you learn that the minute you were gone, at least one person in that group began to talk about you. Maybe they even called you every name in the book. At the very least, they were critical, unkind, and cruel… and they encouraged others to behave in the same way. Hurts even to think about it, doesn’t it?! Now realize that, in essence, that is exactly what we do to Jesus day in and day out… in dozens of ways. Every time we are phony or hypocritical, we are treating Jesus just like this. How much does that hurt to consider?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a phony. I do not want to disrespect my LORD and Savior – or anyone else – in this way. I want to be “the real deal” at all times, because that is who Jesus calls me to be. I want my faith to be honest and genuine… and I want others to know that I mean what I say, and I take my cues from God. What about you? Are you wearing a mask and using it to hide who you really are? Do you pretend to be Godly and then “act a fool” when you think nobody’s looking? Isn’t it time you got real with God… and with others? Wouldn’t today be a good time to start?
©2011 Debbie Robus
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