Looks can be Deceiving…

I have received so many wonderful compliments in the last few weeks about how good I look! I hope that doesn’t come off as conceited or vain- that is my very last intention. I merely bring it up to point out a hard truth. It is difficult for people to believe that I am sick when I look so healthy. I have such a destructive disease trying to tear its way through my body. But what people SEE does not match what they know to be truth. My outward appearance and internal truth are very contradictory and thus very confusing. I am finding that it can be very hard to accept in your heart a truth that you can not see. I still have my hair, healthy coloring, and so on. This can be a major trick to the brain! How could someone who looks healthy have Stage 4 Cancer they have been told is terminal?

And as I ponder this, I find this idea has even further reaching implications, so go with me will you? Aren’t looks deceiving in so many parts of life? A specific path or direction in your life might look super attractive- even when you know little about what actually lies ahead. Maybe a person in your life by all appearances looks very inviting- even when you know little about their character and life style. You are drawn to them because of appearance alone. Maybe a major decision you are facing looks so pleasing to the eye you can hardly resist- even though you don’t know if it really is the best decision for your life or if it will send you down the path you really want to go.

Appearances have the ability to shape and direct our lives and decisions. They can direct our decisions all to easily if we spend too much time focusing on them. They can become the thing that directs our steps, rather than God, and this can be true in every facet of our lives. In fact, I  myself find that appearances can easily become my main focus if I am not careful! Even in the smaller things of physical appearance, I make decisions every day based on trying to make my own appearance more attractive! It is a very natural tendency. And of course not all these decisions are wrong. It is a good thing to strive to be healthy. To be good stewards of our bodies, our homes, our lives. BUT there is a greater and more important part of our lives we should be working on. A much more vital part of ourselves we should be seeking transformation in. And this is our souls. Our hearts. Basically what I am getting at is that our INSIDES play a much important role in a God-centered, joyful life than our OUTSIDES do.

God says over and over again in the scriptures that beauty, or appearances, can be deceiving. His call repeatedly to His people is not simply to have the outward display of righteousness and serving God, but to focus on the actual condition of their the hearts! The heart is what needs to be transformed, because it is the source of all things. It’s where our thoughts and actions stem from. It directs and changes how we live our lives. What we put into our hearts, thus, is what will come out!

In the Gospels Jesus does a good job of calling a spade a spade. And we can quickly see that His focus is ALWAYS on our hearts condition, rather than our outward appearances. He continually calls out the Pharisees for  struggling with this exact problem. They had the outward appearance of righteousness with none of the heart behind it. There are a couple analogies Jesus uses to describe the differences between appearances and hearts of these men.

Jesus says, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:25-28.

Yikes. This is not at all how I hope Jesus would describe me! The cup may look clean but it is filthy on the inside. The tomb may look pretty on the outside but the inside is filled with death and decay. Jesus is pointing out, in a painfully direct way, that you can look like you are serving Him well and still have  a heart that is far from God.

I find that God describes this same problem in yet another way in the Old Testament book of Hosea. Hosea 6:6 says; “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.” What a very practical and helpful way to look at this problem! It can shape the way I think about my walk with God! God desires mercy not sacrifices. Sacrifices were a very important part of Old Testament. They were how the people of Israel paid for their sins. Sacrifices had the appearance of making everything right with God, and they did pay for sin in a time before Jesus had yet to come and die, paying once for all for our sin. But that did not necessarily change the heart of the one offering. You could offer a lamb, goat, or ram to cover your sins but not have a repentant heart. Just as we still struggle today with asking for God’s forgiveness of a particular sin and then continuing on in the same sin without a second thought! Funny how our problems really haven’t changed in thousands of years, huh? We still struggle with the same thing that all of ancient Israel fought against. Having the appearance of serving God, without a heart that desires to follow His will and commands. Practically, this verse is pointing out that I need to focus on the heart behind my actions. The sacrifice is of secondary importance to the state of our hearts!

What this comes down to is this: God’s concern is our heart. He wants us to acknowledge Him in our hearts. Serve Him with love and mercy.  Those things are truly the indicator of a healthy and whole person. Not how beautiful and put together we may look on the outside. He wants there to be heart change. He could care less how pretty the outside of the cup or tomb is, if our hearts are distant from Him! With all the pain and hurt in our world is this truth not all the more important? We need to seriously evaluate the condition of our hearts each and every day, just as much as we spend time working on our outward self, our appearance. Diets. Gyms. Skin treatments. Even self-help books. Positive affirmations. These things only do so much. We may look good on the outside, but is our heart healthy and thriving on the inside?

So don’t forget friends, that outward appearances can be deceiving. What we must carefully guard against in our own lives, is an exterior focus. Our major concern should always be working on our hearts! This is where life springs from. Our actions, thoughts, words all come from our hearts. So shouldn’t we want a heart that is being made more and more into the image of Jesus Christ? Ask God to do the work of internal transformation! Don’t let yourself become a dirty cup or whitewashed tomb. It is, unfortunately, all to easy to do. Don’t let appearances get the best of you. Seek God’s help to transform your heart, so that you live with the mercy and love of Jesus Christ. So your life reflects the love and care of your Creator! God is ready and able to help you grow more into the image of His Son! He is simply waiting for you to ask, waiting for you to seek! He is ready to give us just enough grace for today….

8 thoughts on “Looks can be Deceiving…

  1. Thanks for writing this, Demrie. You shared a very powerful and convicting truth! The Lord has really encouraged me through your writing. I pray for you daily!

    Hannah

  2. Wow, I just read that verse in Matthew this morning. Good exegesis on the text Dem!

  3. Thanks Demrie. This reminds me of Jesse’s sons coming before Samuel for him to pick a King for Israel:

    But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

    1 Sam 16:7

  4. Demrie, your words are so convicting and true! Thanks you for speaking what so many of us are needing to be reminded of. My kids and I pray for you every night, they have grown closer to Jesus because of your powerful story. Thank you!

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