However, we are not so far removed from the
grievous act of having two faces as the most prestigious Hamlet sighted to
Ophelia, when he told her, "God hath given you one face and you make
yourselves another", that we cannot relate to what he accusing her of
doing. We all like to "put on the dog" so to speak, every now and
then. We do this because it is in our human nature to do so.
Whether you are from the
south or not, something in you will at times impress you, to impress someone
else. Pastor Adrian Rogers, tells a story about a young man that had
just started his new law office and had just finished hanging his new sign on
the door, when he heard someone coming down the hallway and thought to himself,
"ah ha, here comes a possible new client that I can impress", so he
picked up his phone and began talking as if someone was on the other end, he
said, "yes, no, I am sorry I cannot see you tomorrow, I have a heavy
cooperation case I am working on, perhaps I can see you next week, if you will
talk to my appointment secretary, I may be able to help you" and hung up
the phone.
By this time the man coming down the hallway was standing in his
office "Now Sir, what may I do for you?" and the man replied,
"I'm from the telephone company and I'm here to hook up your
telephone".
As Christians, the struggle with impressing people comes from a deep and long
desire in both our spiritual and fleshly natures. We are hard
wired in our flesh to gratify our fleshly desires and once we are born again
and receive our new spiritual nature, they wrestle within us to gain power.
Gal. 5:17 even tells us that, "For the flesh sets its desire against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one
another, so that you may not do the things that you please."
Paul said
this about his own struggle in Romans 17:15-20, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
For myself, I understand these verses very
well. Because I too struggle with wanting always, to do the Father's will with
the right heart attitude and motives and yet, I wrestle at every turn over how
I will handle them. In the end, the way that I handle sin in my own life is to
rebuke myself and confess it when I give in and act upon it; being quick and
willing to have a change of heart by checking my heart motives to see if my
flesh is seeking glory to have its way, and always praying God's will in every
situation to remind me to question the face that I am projecting to others.
There is a vast difference in seeking glory for yourself in the
things that you do, verses allowing others to see your good works and glorify
the Father in them as Matthew 5:16 tells us to do, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.".
No one is above their fleshly
desires and we all struggle with them. The thing that we must keep ever before
us, is that we are striving to make great effort in our lives to relinquish any act that
glorifies the sinful nature in us. Let God judge your heart and do not worry
about what others think your heart and motives are. Chances are they have
enough struggles over sin in their own hearts to keep them busy.
Keep seeking
to do right no matter what. Let us not live to impress others apart from
Matthew 5:16 and not worry about what others think our motives are in our
service or walk with Christ. Because our dreaded enemy would love nothing more
than for us to shut down and cease to make a difference in the lives of those
that God brings our way. Do not give in today sweet friend, but rise up and
encourage yourself to stay in the spiritual fight until the day of His coming!
Hold
Fast,
Bren
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