“For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Sa 16:7b
The other evening, I was on the phone with my oldest daughter as she was discussing the many things that she needed to accomplish before Christmas. She lives in a very ‘picture perfect’ neighborhood and with each passing day Christmas decorations are appearing on one house and then another. Each day as she drives through the neighborhood, she becomes more aware of how bare her home is in comparison. As she was telling me the dread of pulling everything out, and the exhausting thoughts of decorating she reminded herself that her kids would be blessed and joyful for the season after she decorated. But I’m sure like with every one of us, the tension begins building with our realization of comparison. The perfect home front…the perfect decorations…the perfect selfie…the perfect life…all the while forgetting that ‘the emperor is really walking around naked.’
No matter how many Christmas lights we put on the outside of our home, or how many filters we use on our selfies we live in a world full of naked emperors…those attempts of pursuing perfection and chasing something that we’ll never catch. When pretense crashes into reality, those disappointments can be devastating and staggering, suddenly exposing the imperfections in our lives…in our parenting…in our marriages…in our spirituality. These disappointments leave us feeling naked in our emotions as we face our public just like the emperor. We realize that we have bought into the lie of the crafty snake. ‘Satan’s favorite entry point of all is through our disappointments. The enemy comes in as a whisper, lingers like a gentle breeze, and builds like a storm you don’t even see coming. But eventually his insatiable appetite to destroy will unleash the tornado of destruction he planned all along. He doesn’t whisper to our disappointed places to coddle us. He wants to crush us.’ It’s Not Supposed to be this Way, Lysa TerKeurst, p. 32.
But then we open the perfect words breathed by our perfect God we are reminded that God doesn’t see us the same way we see each other. When God moves more deeply in our hearts the lights that the enemy has strung will burn out. God doesn’t need a filter to see our beauty…God doesn’t need our outward appearance to be perfect and our status to be elevated. He needs us to string the walls of our heart with the light of Jesus. He needs us to use His word to filter the lies of the world. He needs us to care about the heart of others more than their appearance or status. He desires for every word and action to be strung with the love of Christ.
So, as we decorate for this Christmas season may we allow God to shine more brightly IN us than any decoration UPON us.
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