Monday Musings – Looks Can Be Deceiving

We had the privilege of hosting our dear friend Deb Johnson this weekend. Since she and hubby Brad moved to Nebraska those opportunities are too few. She told us that they dodged disaster when a massive tree limb crashed into their back yard and somehow managed to miss everything. Thankfully no one or no thing was damaged. Pictures showed the enormity of the fallen limb.

An arborist estimated this magnificent Oak was a century old. Deb told us his observation about that towering tree. “No one could have known this tree was sick or weakened just by looking at it”. The arborist pointed out evidence of diseased wood on the fallen branch. Even though the tree itself still looked healthy and vibrant it was dying from the inside out. The bark and leaves looked fine but the core was dying. Soon another great branch would be weakened enough to crash down.

Deb told me how that tree seemed to parallel our spiritual lives. “We can look great on the outside and be dying inside,” she noted. “Do you think that is a good spiritual analogy?”

No Deb, I don’t. I think that is a great spiritual analogy! That is exactly what Jesus was talking about when He excoriated the Pharisees. They looked fantastic. They dressed in beautiful garments. They had the best education and they could articulate the Scriptures. They could embarrass the average person with their extraordinary knowledge about details of the law and what it took to be holy. They were the cultural creme de la creme when it came to righteousness.

That is until Jesus came along. Can you imagine the looks on their smug faces when Jesus looked deep into their hearts and saw the disease of sin growing under the prayer boxes and tassled robes.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:25-28, NLT)

We are no different. We like to look good to other people. We like to act like all is well and we are doing fine. We don’t want to admit that we are failing or that we need help. But inside we are slowly dying. No one can see it but sin is rotting away our strength. How many times has a respected person crashed into significant sin as unexpectedly as that giant branch crashed into our friend’s yard. The response is usually the same. “I had no idea they could ever do that. I never saw that coming.”

That is how sin works when we try to manage it or cover it with activity and self-striving. I know me. I know that I must seek the illuminating light of the Holy Spirit to help me see the filth and greed and self-indulgence that lies within or I could fall with a sickening thud as well. There have been times when I read those verses and felt smugly superior to those uptight spiritual leaders. Forgive me for my arrogance. As I get older I have learned a sad truth. I am just like the Pharisees.

I need to lean daily on grace and my identity in Jesus. Knowing who I am in Christ gives me the freedom to look into my heart without risk of condemnation. And that identity also gives me the freedom to let trusted others know that I am not always healthy and clean and vibrant. I am often dry and wounded and filthy. I need Jesus and I need you. But I have to be honest with both Jesus and my community to stay healthy. And the crazy thing is that when I am honest with others about my desperate need for grace the power of the Gospel becomes real. It truly is Good News!