Public Appearances

Me and my Blessings! 

RISE AND SHINE FOR JESUS!

By Pam Iannello (my late mother)

"Public Appearances"

Would you consider yourself to be a spiritually disciplined person? Do you get up early to read your Bible and pray? Do you read a set number of chapters every day? Do you faithfully tithe and even offer extra financial support for church needs or various ministries? Do you have certain convictions that you strongly adhere to, such as long hair, long dresses, no birth control etc.? How much of your personal relationship with Christ is kept private and how much is made public?

Matthew 6:16-18 (KJV)

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. [17] But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; [18] That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Basically, fasting is the laying aside of food for a period of time when the believer is seeking to know God in a deeper experience. It is to be done as an act before God in the privacy of one’s own pursuit of God, drawing near to Him in prayer. Fasting is the perfect example of spiritual discipline. To refrain from food for an extended period of time takes a lot of effort and self-control. But no matter how good our spiritual disciplines may be it is not right to overact the part!

Are your spiritual disciplines devoted to God alone, or have you been trying to make a name for yourself with them? Jesus said that a hypocrite uses his spiritual disciplines to gain attention; his motives are not pure; they are polluted with self-righteousness. Things that are truly holy are not going to glorify self above God.

Are you the kind that thinks you have to look like you’re severely deprived in order to be considered holy? Are you overdoing it a bit, dear lady? Do you deliberately sport a dismal countenance and disfigure your face in the presence of other people so they might think you are a spiritual giant of sorts? For instance, everyone else might be in a high spirited mood while enjoying a cheery time of fellowship and there you sit, overly sober minded for the setting, refusing to crack a smile because you are so “close to God”. Listen, if reading ten chapters of your Bible every morning is going to turn you into a social stick in the mud you better cut back! God never intended us to employ our private relationship with Him to poison our public behavior. The truth is designed to counteract hypocrisy, not cultivate it!

It is tempting to want to show others that you are fasting; our pride loves to flaunt the things which we have chosen not to participate in to the end that we might be viewed as serious about God. Some Christian women have come to the place in their walk with the Lord where they refrain from wearing pants. And hopefully that is a decision that they have arrived at privately by way of the Word and Spirit of God rather than for the public advancement of self. Is there a chance you could be sporting a few of your convictions in a pious fashion? Some Christian women have chosen to abstain from using birth control in an attempt to become known as being closer to God for having a large family. I’ve even seen some wives dramatize their abhorrence of sin in the company of their husbands so that they might prove that their spouse is ungodly and they are not! Are you guilty of disfiguring your face with downcast expressions (grief, pain, displeasure) so that others will pick up on your saintly struggles and credit you for them? Ladies, there are all sorts of ways that we try to appear as if we were “suffering for Jesus”. Unfortunately, many of our outward exhibitions are nothing more than a result of “hamming it up” as the Pharisees did and aren’t even remotely related to our personal relationship with God at all!

A lot of believers think it is hard to live the life of a sincere Christian but I would have to say that I think it would be harder to live the life of a hypocrite! What a difficult part they have to act; how draining to be preoccupied with the form of godliness while not really owning it! Pretending humility is twice as hard as acquiring it. What mood do you assume as you strive to draw nearer to the Lord? What are the reasons for what you do as a Christian? Are you giving more thought to the penetrating eye of God or man’s view of your person? Do you desire the name of holiness or the condition of holiness?

God Bless,

Pam

Isaiah 60:1&2

Copyright 2006 Pamela A. Iannello

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