First impressions can be lasting impressions. It’s why we straighten the house before company arrives. We want them to see us at our best, to leave afterwards imagining we keep our house spotless all the time.
Take Sunday mornings. We might lounge in our most comfortable clothes on Saturday, and not do a thing to our hair. That’s the real us, just chilling out in the shirt we bought in Cancun a decade before with a hat to keep our hair under control. For church, we polish ourselves up, wanting people to see us as we want to be known.
It’s easy to create a fake us, and to begin to think it’s real.
This has become an integral part of our culture. Self-image, ego, the right to be better than we are. Name it, claim it. If we say we are one thing, we will become that thing.
It works, too. For good and bad. Norman Vincent Peale wrote The Power of Positive Thinking, an outstanding book that helped millions of people improve their outlook on life.
Yet, what happens when our Sunday morning persona becomes just that, our persona, and it falls away when church comes to an end? We call out words of praise when the choir sings a new song, and we live in anger the rest of the week.
We must be the real deal all week long.
James 5:12 tells us:
“But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.”
This verse has a literal meaning, that we must be sincere in our words, so that people believe what we say.
The broader application is that we must be transparent in everything we do. By all means, comb our hair before we head off to church, but to drop a dollar in the offering, making sure others see, only to renege on our tithes is a layer of deception God won’t tolerate. To greet another church member’s son warmly then yell at our own when we get back to the car does not reflect transparency before God and man.
Our book cover might look pretty to those who don’t look inside, but God reads the story. He knows what’s written on each page. We need to live as if every deed we do is on display for the world to share. One day our hat’s going to come off, and they’re going to see that old shirt with the sweat stains under the arms. Let’s make sure we can be proud of who we are, even when Sunday is the farthest thing from our minds.
When we clean up for Sunday, let’s try to stay out of the dirt the rest of the week.
Copyright © 2015 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.G.20.15b.vp.esv