We all want to at least look the part.
For example, have you ever gotten into a new activity? Let’s call it golf. You start out just wanting to learn to play, but before long your dress, diction, and priorities begin to shift as well. If you’re anything like me, you wind up looking like a pro as long as you never have to tee off.
Yet appearances / assimilations aren’t all bad. They are significant in our psyche and provide us with the confidence and will power to persist in the activity. Absent that motivation, we can struggle to remain interested and therefore stray.
The real problem emerges when we prioritize appearances and fail to implement the corresponding practices.
“With everybody listening, Jesus spoke to his disciples. “Watch out for the religious scholars. They love to walk around in academic gowns, preen in the radiance of public flattery, bask in the prominent positions, sit at the head table at every church function. And all the same time they are exploiting the weak and helpless.”
These religious scholars certainly looked the part. They possessed all the accoutrement and were accordingly recognized and even celebrated for their perceived righteousness.
But as Jesus highlights, they failed to do the real work. They were me masquerading in a Titleist hat. They failed to actually be the people they wanted to be recognized as.
As I sit in judgment of these historical figures, denigrating the false impressions they encouraged, I am myself convicted. For I too expend copious energy to ensure I at least look competent in my job, my marriage, and my parenting. Furthermore, I allow false assumptions to linger when they place me in a positive light.
The question I am left with is, ‘would I rather fail to seem, or fail to be?’ Sadly, I think my answer all too often is that I would rather maintain appearances and fail to be. I challenge you this week to audit your time and energy and see where your answer falls. The revelation might be the first step to realignment.