As soon as I hung up the phone I ran back to my room to see that it looked like a bomb had just gone off or the Fruit of the Loom factory exploded on top of my bed. I had 5 minutes until my dad got home, so it was going to take a shear miracle for this room. I threw open the closet doors and starting throwing toys, books, and dirty clothes inside.
When the door would barely close, I started stuffing underneath the bed. In record time my room appeared to be clean. I walked down the hall and cracked Stephen’s door only to see him shoving dirty socks into his desks drawers. “That a boy Stephen,” I said, “I think we’re going to make it.” When Pops rolled in, we were waiting at the door, shirttails tucked in, hair combed, like two perfect little angels. He instantly knew we were up to something.
Sitting at the dinner table, my dad was commenting on how good our rooms looked. A puzzled look came over my Mom’s face. She knew there was something fishy about the quick clean. She knew that our rooms had been a complete disaster only hours before, and our track record for cleaning was spotty at best. “Let me go look at those rooms.” Stephen and I looked at each other as sheer terror gripped our entire bodies. We tripped over each other trying to beat Mom upstairs, but knew that our judgment was sealed. The first place she looked was Stephen’s room; she went straight to the closet door, and soon she lifted the dust ruffle on the bed. “Clean, huh?” She walked down the hall to my room, but I just stood in front of my door and replied, “Don’t even bother.” We had completely fooled Dad, because he didn’t know where to look and what to look for. When he opened the door and peeked in, he saw some order and cleanliness, which was enough for him. However, Mom was a different story. She knew what clean really was, and she knew all our secrets and shortcuts.
Life is a lot like that. At times, we can fool a lot of people. Our outward appearance and speech can make people think we are dedicated and focused on the right things. We often have the “Dad” approach. Scripture is full of instances where outward actions, speech, and motions have tricked people, but never God. God sees our hearts. God knows all of our shortcuts and secrets. He not only knows what we are doing, but why we are doing it. Often people make the point that God knows all the bad things you do. I would also add that God sees all the good things you do, but more importantly he knows why you are doing it; your real intentions behind it. When you serve people, are you doing it for recognition, or do you really want to help them? I’ll never know, but God does. When you give to the church of your time and money, do you expect to get something back or are you giving out of obedience to Scripture and because God first gave to you? Some of us need to do a little cleaning in our lives. It won’t be long before the Father comes home, and he knows the exact places to look to see if you are truly living a life for Him.
Matt. 6:5- “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.”
Matt. 15:8 – “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;”
Read Acts 5:1-11. The intentions of the Ananias and Sapphira may have fooled the people of the church, but God saw right through their empty actions and dishonesty and made them pay the price.
“We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.” -Pascal
No comments:
Post a Comment