Red Flag Security Blanket

It all started with the mental health post. Then I followed it up with two more posts to reinforce the idea that transformation happens from the inside out, and not the other way around. But it’s such a neglected truth that it can’t be restated enough. So let’s consider Jesus’ rafter strong words on the subject.

““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 

His words are directed at the teachers of the law and Pharisees. Jesus’ perpetual example of a bad example. As he said in verse 3 of the same chapter “don’t do as they do.” This time he blatantly accuses them of cleaning up the surface but leaving the inside filthy with the cup analogy. Then goes on to say, that if we would focus on the inside instead, the outside would become clean as a result. Yet how often do we do the exact opposite, even when Jesus flat-out says it doesn’t work that way.

Then he goes on with the whitewashed tomb analogy. Getting exposed to a dead body made you ceremoniously unclean under Mosaic law (Numbers 19:11-13) so they whitewashed tombs with lime as a warning to stay away. So in a way, this metaphor would be the equivalent of a red flag today. So Jesus is actually warning us about people who look too put together. That their appearance may very well be completely deceptive.

This backward thinking all comes back to comfort. We are not comfortable with facing our inner scars, leading us to fake holiness instead. Plus our comfort level with others often lies in how they present themselves externally, especially with new people. So we are often more than comfortable with allowing people to fake it as we do, instead of how to clean the inside of the vessel. Not that we have any experience to teach from. So if you’re following comfort, you’re not really following Jesus, and merely have a whitewashed faith.

The Visual PARABLEist

Leaky Heart

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. -Proverbs 4:23

As I indicated last time, No matter how many times, or how many ways Scripture reiterates the idea that the heart should be our focus as believers, we still get caught up in the surface. The above verse is but another example of that. So let me ask you this. When you are trying to clean up your act as a disciple, what are you focusing on; your heart, or what flows from it? When correcting others, do you care enough to look past their actions, or only criticize the flow that is spilling into your comfort zone?

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” -Matthew 15:19

Jesus says pretty much the same thing here as the Proverbs verse, only in a different way. So clearly the state of our heart has a lot to do with the quality of our behavior. Yet somehow so many in the church try to skip over addressing the heart of self as well as others. Only to get it all backwards by fixating on the symptom, and not the damage causing the symptom.

If you find yourself mopping up a puddle in the same place every day, you obviously have a leak somewhere. If you don’t track down the source, not only will you be stuck in an endless cycle of mopping, but you run the risk of enabling rot and mold. Does that sound like your relationship with sin? We notice leaks where the land, if we observe it on the bottom floor, it could have actually originated on any of the floors above it. It is not much different from our heart. Past traumas lead us to seek relief, and the world is full of quick and easy albeit temporary painkillers. Just like literal painkillers, overuse can reduce effectiveness, as well as lead to other dangerous side effects. So our short-term solutions often just lead to more long-term problems. Causing us to lose sight of the initial cause of our downward cycle. Our patterns of behavior can be years in the making, after all, meaning they are deeply ingrained in us. So our coping mechanisms' origin can often lie deeply in the past. We can’t deal with an issue we haven’t looked for the root of, let alone find the courage to face that root when we do.

One hard reality we may face in all this is that healing can come very painfully. ask anyone who has had major surgery. leading us to guard our hearts from actual solutions. The thing is Jesus wants to be part of that solution. He wants to help you succeed. You need only humble yourself before him (1st Peter 5:6-7) ask for wisdom (James 1:5) and he will guide you through the labyrinth of your heart. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) Without a guide we can easily get lost in self. Unfortunately, we just can’t let go or move past issues that we refuse to own or acknowledge. They will always be like shards of glass hiding in the dark corners of our souls. That will inevitably reveal themselves at our most vulnerable moments. Won’t you let Jesus pick up the broken pieces, he already knows where they are, and he’s dying to show you despite your stubbornness.

The Visual PARABLEist

Mere Appearances

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” -1st Samuel 16:7

No matter how many times, or how many ways scripture reiterates this idea, we still get caught up in mere appearances. It just seems to be human nature to fixate on the surface, because the secular world has taken this superficially to new heights lately. Pop culture makes identity mostly cosmetic, in other words less than skin deep. Hollywood merely shoe horns in the right demographic of people into old stories, and only represents them in a visual way. Washington DC only addresses the symptoms of issues, yet never really considers the cause of problems. Yet, why should they know better, when the church is setting such a terrible example.

 
We ultimately judge on mere appearances because it is what we can plainly see in others. But we also know that is what others see in us. Yet we seldom consider that others are employing just as much camouflage and falsehoods as we are to avoid or deflect said judgments.

“Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.” -John 7:24

Of course, judging correctly would mean getting involved in the messy lives of others. It means turning that discerning eye on self as Matthew 7 teaches us. It may also make us realize, that what bothers us the most about others, is what resembles our own hearts. Then we might actually empathize and want to help, instead of just criticize.

The Visual PARABLEist