I was looking for something on AOL Video tonight and this video was on the home page.
The way my mind works:
As I viewed this video, I saw it as a picture of dead works. People can put on a lot of "make up" (dead, religious, good works) and they can indeed have a very beautiful outward appearance. But when all alone, and the make up is removed, all you're left with is "whitewashed tombs" (Matt 23:27). Please note, I am not attempting in any way to judge the individual people in the video! I simply see this as a good illustration of the deceitfulness and hypocrisy of a good outward appearance when matched up with true righteousness. In Christ, we can indeed have a good outward appearance, but it's not the result of good make up (fleshly, religious strivings). It's the result of the living God taking up residence on the inside and displaying Himself on the outside as we rest in Him.
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Hi Joel;
ReplyDeleteNice illustration….
I like everything you said but for me the best was the “rest in Him”.
It made me think of Hebrews 4 and how we as believers have entered that rest in Jesus, and how this compares to the Sabbath in Colossians 2 ….
16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.
Rest in Jesus is the reality…..
Amen, Jesus is the substance, or reality! Great verses that you've chosen here, LS. I love the "rest" talk in Hebrews. We really find that we can rest and trust solely in Jesus and we don't have to put on any masks. Jesus is the substance, the reality, and our hope is in Him, not in the shadow.
ReplyDeleteHi Joel;
ReplyDeleteIt often surprises me how people that have been around the Church for a long time can cling to the shadows. They often want to live in “church culture”, or religion an dare not willing to enter this rest…. Since I came from such a sin soaked life, not growing up with a Christian influence I am so very thankful for this rest in Jesus, I surely do not deserve it, grace is amazing…
Yep indeed, Jesus didn't come to give us a system or religion or any such thing. He came to give us Himself, and to deliver us from death and give us abundant Life. He came to give us rest. God's amazing grace is where that life is found, and it's found nowhere else!
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