Back at home this week. I can hear the Door County Frosted Cinnamon Buns Coffee dripping into the pot letting me know that I soon will be pouring my first cup.
It's that time of year again and we have started exchanging Christmas presents and are in the process of wrapping a few more tonight. Rene enjoys wrapping presents, but I sure don't care for the task. I have been known to take all the presents to a shopping mall and paying a youth group who was raising funds for a charity by wrapping presents for people just to avoid the task..
It seems like such a waste of time to me. The really important part of the present is what is on the inside of the package. I watch people unwrap presents with a delicate approach and then say "it looks so beautiful, I hate to open it!" Really now? Who ever gets a present and keeps it in the package forever because it is too pretty to tear apart?
People are like that too. They wrap themselves up for appearance sake and show up to church, at Christmas. But then you don't see them again until Easter. On the outside they look happy and eager to be there, but on the inside they are just going through the motions of tradition. They know people can't see into their hearts and minds. But they forget that God knows the whole package from inside and out. He sees their heart and is really not too excited about the outside and the fake appearance. What He want is their hearts. Adults who do this are teaching children that observing Christmas and then Easter is the way to be "religious". They are leading others astray.
Matthew 23:27-28New International Version (NIV)
27 “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. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Are you the real thing? Is there more to you than what you are wrapped in? Think about seeking out the Lord and a relationship with Him. He sees right into your heart.
Food for thought.
Marty
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