It can be pretty disappointing to children when they discover, after the Easter egg hunt, that the chocolate eggs they found and the huge chocolate rabbit awarded to some lucky person were not solid candy. They were hollow, made mostly of—nothing.
I read a review recently, although the book itself is not a new one, of a well-known celebrity who was called "a hollow man." He was "monstrously callous," the biographers wrote. He "double-crossed his way to the top"; his memoirs are "a pack of lies." Greedy business dealings. Rotten behavior. Neglect and coldness toward friends and family. The antithesis of his public image. The reviewer wasn't convinced, however, because some very ambiguous evidence was presented in the worst possible light, resulting in a nasty "hatchet job."
Still, it got me thinking about people who are something like the hollow chocolate candy. After you get through the sweet surface, they are mostly—nothing. Good looks and smooth talk do not a fine person make! Jesus had some harsh words for the people ("frauds," He called them) who presented an attractive outside but were very different on the inside. "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something. You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds." (Matthew 23: 25-28 MSG)
We can't change anyone else, but if we suspect any hypocrisy in ourselves, here is the remedy: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." (Psalm 139:23, 24 NLT)
MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)
Scripture marked MSG is taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture quotation marked NLT is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.
Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com
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