Appearances

“…It is not how you appear to others that matters, but how you appear to yourself. “

A young woman explained to me how “appearances” work.

“You hold your purse sideways to your body as you open it. That way the person facing you can see the designer label on the inside clearly. At least, that is how the young women in France do it.”

Now being properly instructed, I vowed to always open my purse correctly in the future!

Seriously, we may not all carry purses, but we all identify in some way with “the Bucket woman” in the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. We desperately want to keep up appearances with our crowd of friends, classmates, fellow-workers or neighbors.

“Appearances” is why the most liberal, anti-social and passionate protestors of the social norms (who would never be caught dead in a mini-van) all look and sound alike!

Jesus’ parable about the Kingdom of God revealed there would be outward similarities between people of God’s Kingdom and the people of the Kingdom of this world. Outwardly we all are conformists. Jesus said that telling the difference by appearances is difficult.

He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom from heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the crop came up and bore grain, the weeds appeared, too. The owner's servants came and asked him, 'Master, you sowed good seed in your field, didn't you? Then where did these weeds come from?' He told them, 'An enemy did this!' The servants asked him, 'Then do you want us to go and pull them out?' He said, 'No! If you pull out the weeds, you might pull out the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, "Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles for burning, but bring the wheat into my barn."'" (Mat 13:24-30, ISV)

There are two Kingdoms growing together, Jesus said. The Kingdom of Heaven was coming near to us in Jesus’ words and deeds (Luke 4:16-21). The Kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them, is the bribe that the Devil offered Jesus if he would switch sides (Luke 4:5-8).

But remember, it is not how you appear to others that matters, but how you appear to yourself. I can’t know what is in your heart of hearts, because outward appearances are similar. Therefore, Jesus told us not to judge one another’s citizenship in God’s Kingdom. We are to judge ourselves.

The desire to fit in outwardly can be so strong that the “still small voice” of our own inward selves may be difficult to hear. I will never be able to hear your inner conscience—but you can hear it when you put in a little effort.

Peter the disciple was so intent on defending Jesus outwardly that he refused to believe Jesus’ words that he would deny him three times that same night. Jesus wanted him to pray so he would not give into the fear that swept him into denial several hours later. Peter couldn’t receive the warning and failed.

“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10)

I went fishing yesterday. When the ripples on the surface of the water dissipated I could see what was below the surface clearly. The distortions of our fetish with “appearances” must be set aside for each of us to see what is in our own heart. Only you can do it for yourself.

The people of the Kingdom of Heaven and the people of the Kingdom of this world are mixed together. The personal responsibility of each person is to receive Jesus into their life as Lord and Savior. Don’t fool yourself by putting on the appearance of being a Christian.

Only you can set aside “appearances” and know your own heart. After that, God can commune with you one on one and begin your personalized life of discipleship.