We live in a very strange world, a world where appearance is given more importance than essence; impressions have become more important than the inner reality. ‘How you look’ is more important than ‘who you are’; and if you closely follow the commercials the message is: “how you look is not just important but it is everything in life”. We are constantly bombarded by the media that your worth is derived from your looks, by the way I am not just talking about young girls, I am talking about every one of us (men, women, boys, girls, dads, moms and grandparents).
Unfortunately we are all prone to falling for this lie that “looks is everything”. I do agree that looks are important and that it is an important part of who you are, but it is only a part of who you are, there is more to life than looks. It is a tragedy that our generation has been so obsessed and preoccupied with looks and appearance that it totally ignores the inner life of a person. It is no wonder that people in general are spending more time thinking, talking, reading and worrying about their appearance than about anything else.
Our generation has been so obsessed and preoccupied with looks and appearance that it totally ignores the inner life of a person.
Gordon MacDonald in his book “Ordering your private world” notes that the residents of a Florida apartment building awoke to a terrifying sight outside their windows. The ground beneath the street in front of their building had literally collapsed, creating a massive depression that Floridians call a sinkhole. Tumbling into the ever-deepening pit were automobiles, pavement, sidewalks, lawn furniture and pretty soon the building itself will disappear. Scientists say that sinkholes occur when underground streams drain away during seasons of drought causing the ground at the surface to lose its underlying support. Suddenly everything simply caves in, leaving people with a frightening suspicion that nothing – not even the earth beneath their feet is trustworthy.
The tragedy of sinkholes is that they, like many other natural calamities do not give us any warnings before they occur…It’s too late to start filling the emptiness once the collapse begins.
MacDonald notes that there are many people whose lives are like one of Florida’s sinkholes. These sinkholes are just a physical picture of a spiritual problem with which many Western Christians struggle, or probably I should say many Christians all over the world discover in their lives. The tragedy of sinkholes is that they, like many other natural calamities do not give us any warnings before they occur. They just cave in and expose the hollowness of the land. It’s too late to start filling the emptiness once the collapse begins.
I sometimes wonder if we really are even conscious of our inner life. The world around us is constantly driving us from one thing to the other that we seldom take time to discover our inner shallowness or spiritual dryness. Our external appearance can never sustain our inner emptiness; in fact the opposite is true: A strong inner life can sustain almost any outside pressures and storms. Richard Foster writes “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is primarily a spiritual problem. The desperate need is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people. The classic Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths.”
A million dollar house (or a condominium if you live in California) may look great, but if it is standing on a sinkhole no matter how much you decorate the house, it will helplessly succumb to the emptiness of its foundation. Being a very busy Christian outside may not be a bad thing, but it does not guarantee your inner stability, therefore please take time to dig deep into your own life frequently, take time to discover your inner life. Remember that sinkholes occur when the underground streams drain away. When was the last time you checked your underground streams?
Being a very busy Christian outside may not be a bad thing, but it does not guarantee your inner stability, therefore please take time to dig deep into your own life frequently
– – Author: Rev. Francis Burgula – –
