The One About the Priest and the Thief

Suggested Reading: Colossians 2:16-3:4

A while ago we discovered a new show called I Almost Got Away With It. The show chronicles the stories of criminals who nearly pulled off great heists or almost escaped the clutches of the law. One episode told the story of a man on the run who hid from the law by pretending to be a Catholic priest. He had grown up as a Catholic so he was familiar with many of the traditions and ceremonies, so he forged some official looking documents and sent his resume to a church. The senior priest at the church assumed it had come from another diocese and hired the man. Then for several years, this fugitive acted like a priest, following all of the rules and regulations and going through the ceremonies. Based on nearly everything he did on the outside, the man looked like a Catholic priest. Several times, he was nearly caught because a few of the small things he did were out of sync with what a priest would do or say and he was constantly having to watch his every step.  On the outside, as far as the other priests and parishioners could tell, the man was a man of the cloth. On the inside, he was still a criminal on the run from the law.

The Apostle Paul wrote about a similar phenomenon in the book of Colossians. In chapter 2 he described a number of religious practices that were used to judge other people's faith, and all of these standards were based on outward things: food, drink, the observance of religious holidays and new moon festivals, abstinence from certain activities and pleasures, and how many visions one claimed to have. Paul described all of these practices as things which had a "reputation of wisdom" but which did nothing to curb self-indulgence (Colossians 2:22, HCSB) and Paul warned his readers not to let people judge them based on these outward things. Instead, Paul said, "set your hearts on things above" (Colossians 3:1, NIV) as a means of managing self-indulgence.  Throughout most of his letters, Paul repeats the refrain of changing the way one thinks, of focusing on heavenly things and allowing the Spirit to influence your mindset.

Paul understood, like with the fugitive priest, that what a person does on the outside is only part of the story. You can play a good game, say all the right things, and look like a great person, and still be an ugly, vile, self-indulgent mean-spirited person. The things that we do matter, but our attitudes and thought processes matter more. We can fake doing all the right things by going through the motions but we can't fake having our minds in the right place. And just like that priest, if our mindset isn't right, eventually our façade will crack, our mask will fail, and people will see right through us.  More than that, we will never be able to beat those sins that haunt us or grow spiritually just by trying to be more disciplined. Discipline is a good thing but nothing will really change unless we change the way we think.  In Romans 12:2, Paul put it this way: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (NIV).  In Philippians 4:8, Paul gave this advice, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things" (NIV).

If we really want to change our habits, defeat those persistent sins,  and grow into the kind of believers that God designed us to be, we have to do more than try harder. We have to change how we think. We have to choose to keep our minds on things that are pure, noble, true, and admirable. Thoughts turn into actions, actions turn into habits, and habits turn into character.

When we think about the right things, it becomes natural to do the right things.  And it doesn't take discipline to do what is natural.

Gold Rings and Hogs

Suggested Reading: Proverbs 11:16-23

Back when I was single, long before I met my wife, I had a rule about how I described women. Well,  really, it was more my own set of definitions. Any girl I happened to see could be pretty, even beautiful, or unattractive. But I refused to use stronger words to define a girl until I actually knew them. For instance, for a girl to be "gorgeous," she needed not only to be physically attractive but have an attractive spirit as well. One the flip-side a girl who was physically very attractive could be "downgraded" if she was petty, stuck-up, or mean-spirited. In fact, there was a girl in high school who was extremely attractive physically that I refused to think of as "beautiful" because she was snobby and conceited (in my ill-practiced high-school opinion). I have never heard whether girls have a similar system for rating guys (my wife tells me that I am the only attractive male on the planet besides that one superhero on TV....), but I would suspect they do.

The author of Proverbs seemed to have a similar system as well. Proverbs 11:22 reads, "A beautiful woman who rejects good sense is like a gold ring in a pig's snout" (HCSB). Apparently, the author of the proverb, like many of us, drew the distinction between a woman who was physically attractive and a woman whose only positive quality was her physical appearance. 

Now, while it might be a good idea for me to bring this up in order to warn single people, "Make sure you are looking for someone whose attractiveness goes beyond the physical," and while that would be a good warning, I think most of us eventually arrive at those conclusions on our own. Rather, I am more concerned with whether or not our own attractiveness extends beyond the physical. And, yes, if you are married, you still need to be concerned about being attractive, both to your spouse and to a world that is watching you to see whether or not coming to Christ is worth their time.

Sometimes, we get so worried about our physical appearance, that we forget to work just as much on our attitude and behavior.  We often fall into the trap of making sure that we are dressed well (say, for church) but don't stop to think about how we greet people we have never met or whether we are hospitable to strangers. We fuss over our hair but we never fuss over how we respond to other people's ideas and desires. Sometimes, we don't spend any time at all worrying about any appearances other than the physical. But we all know that our physical looks will only get us so far, and they probably wont get us anywhere if we're trying to lead people to Jesus.

How attractive are you right now? Would the way you behave or treat people cause others to "upgrade" your appearance or "downgrade" it? Don't be a gold ring in a pig's snout.

I Didn't Marry You For Your Looks

Suggested Reading: 1 Peter 3:1-9

Not long ago as I was getting ready to leave the house, I was putting gel in my hair and remembered a time when I never put any product in my hair but shampoo. I commented on that to my wife and she replied that I  looked so much better with gel in my hair (I started using it because she wanted me to do so). And I responded that I attracted her before I started using gel, so I couldn't have been that bad looking. My wife was tired this particular morning and a little off her game because she didn't respond with the expected "Well, honey, I obviously didn't marry you for your looks." Fortunately for me, my wife saw something deeper in me than my constantly crazy hair and scraggly beard. She was attracted to me, but not simply because of the way I dressed myself up.

In First Peter, the apostle had some advice for women that could work well for men, too. He wrote, Your beauty should not consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold ornaments or fine clothes. Instead, it should consist of what is inside the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes (1 Peter 3:3-4, HCSB). Now I would be surprised if Peter had a problem with people looking their best. But we can easily fall into a trap of using only our appearance to make ourselves attractive to other people when we could be using so much more. Making ourselves attractive with hairstyles and clothes and decoration causes people to be curious about our hairstylist or the store where we shop. But making ourselves attractive by living a life of love and service makes them curious about who we are and why we live that way, it draws people to us rather than simply making them want to look at us.

Maybe it is time we toned down our outward decorations for a while to focus on cultivating an inner beauty that draws people to us, even when we don't look like a model or a celebrity.  Maybe we should put off that fancy hairstyle or those pieces of jewelry or that expensive suit until we look so good on the inside that our inner beauty can't be overwhelmed by our outer beauty.