10/24/2018
How do we worship and have faith in the Father and the Son? Do we go about doing the physical things that identify us as religious, and leave the inner, spiritual, things of faith to quietly stagnate? God made us to be both physical and spiritual beings, but didn’t He make the physical first, and then breathe the spirit into it? As we grow in faith is our body fully formed, but our spiritual self lagging behind?
“You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?”
Luke 11:40 ESV
If you are married, as I am, think back on how you first met your spouse. The first time I saw my wife she was sitting on the back of a convertible car with her long brown hair flowing out behind her. I thought to myself that she was pretty, but that she was too extroverted for my liking. I formed my opinion of her based on what I saw... her outward self. It wasn’t until later at a school bonfire, after we were introduced to one another by a mutual friend, that I had a chance to talk to her, and get to know the girl beneath the long hair, and behind the pretty face. That is when I fell in love with her. We meet our spouses physically, and form an opinion, or an attraction, and only then do we spend time together to get to know the inward person.
Models on television attract you to the clothes they are wearing, but we buy them because of how they fit and feel when we try them on. In a way, our faith is like this too. Whether friends, loves, clothes, or faith, there is first a physical attraction followed by a deeper more lasting intangible connection... emotional, intellectual, or spiritual.
“But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.”
1 Corinthians 15:46-47 ESV
We have all met people that are narcissistic, or who place all their value on outward appearances, these are folks look no further than what can be seen with the eye. The hope and goal of our own effort is to be much more than that, we want to look beyond the obvious, and grasp the precious jewels that lie beneath. We want clothes that look good, but they must feel good too. We want a relationship with someone who is attractive, but more than that they must be of good heart and fit well with our inward selves. We have developed sayings to emphasize this truth; sayings such as “Beauty is only skin deep”, and we even write songs to help us remember it: https://youtu.be/6PU1PEA8S6M . So it is with our faith; what is important to God isn’t predicated so much on what we exhibit outwardly, but who we are, and become, inwardly.
“"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”
Matthew 6:1-2 ESV
Matthew goes even further when it speaks about our spiritual lives... listen:
“"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”
Matthew 6:5 ESV
When we take our faith, that is inward, and make it a matter of pride, which is outward, we have betrayed ourselves, and God. It is like a husband who reveals, or boasts, of the most intimate things regarding his marriage and his wife... he has betrayed them both. What was once beautiful has become vain and ugly by his actions. Our faith is a relationship we have with Jesus Christ, and our Holy Father; it is personal and intensely private. Our religion on the other hand is outward and for all to see.
So how do we worship and have faith in the Father and the Son? Do we go about the things of religious practice and count ourselves as being righteous, or do we turn to our inward faith for a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God? Are we hoping the things we do physically will save our souls, or that the manifestations of a deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ that truly saves us will naturally bubble to the surface from its secret place, as He desires, to reveal itself physically... like it did with Moses.
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”
Exodus 34:29 ESV
Our outward selves are nothing but vessels that are intended to hold the precious cargo within them . They might be beautiful, or ornate, but only to honor what is inside. Where is your treasure? Is it on your hand, around your neck, or in your heart?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the relationship you have established with me, and the perfecting of my spirit, heart, mind, and soul through your Holy Word. I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who suffered and died for all to see so that we would understand what had been done to save our souls. I thank you Lord for those secret things we have together that you allow to glow on my face, and I thank you even more for those deep moments of faith that only you and I know of. The gospel of Jesus that we teach and preach is our religion, but the gospel we live is our faith... our life; help me to live my faith Holy Father, and to honor our relationship in the hidden places within me. Praised be your name Merciful Father, for you are the God of intimacy, and love; you are the God of secrets which are kept, and confidences unbroken. Ours is a love that glows in an aura that surrounds me, and becomes evident through the joy that bubbles forth from the overflowing spring within me. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God, and in my prayers let all things unsaid to man become my joy and bond of relationship and faith in you. Praised be your name forever.
Rich Forbes