Devotional 2-13-08

Why is it so easy to evaluate our outward appearance, but so difficult to look honestly at our inner selves? I bet everyone who reads this can tell you what they would like to change about their physical appearance-too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, eyes too small, nose too big, etc. Some of those we can change if we make the effort and some we just learn to accept. Our physical appearance is not who we really are.

Our inner self is different. That is the essence of who we are, so looking at that is much more painful. We go to church, love God, accept Jesus as our Savior, and try to do what's right. We are basically good people, right? Wrong! We have slipped into complacency! The problem is when we wear that cross around our neck, when we profess to be a Christian we become Christ's emissaries to the world. When we fudge a little ethically, when we tell that "little" lie, when we fail to forgive an injustice (real or imagined), when we judge others and have no problem telling them how to "fix" their lives, when we act like we are better than someone else, when we have too much pride in our own accomplishments (failing to give God credit), we are in danger of turning someone else away from Christ.

We know we aren't perfect in our heads, do we accept it in our hearts? That, as Aaron Hess says in Doing the Right Thing, "Religion can heighten our awareness of our moral imperfection-not to undermine us, but to give us something to shoot for." We need to acknowledge to the world that we sin just like everyone else, that going to church doesn't make us perfect, doesn't make us 'better' than everyone else, but that we are a work in progress and that God isn't finished with us yet!

Prayer: Lord, sharpen my conscience, make me more aware of my sins, of when I let you and myself down. And, Oh Lord, please don't let me be the reason someone doesn't want to be a Christian! Amen.

Margaret Williams