How familiar are you with the word 'superficial'? One of the
definition Cambridge dictionary points out is, "appearing to be real or
important when it is not true or correct". In Oxford dictionary it is
described as 'Lack of thoroughness, depth of
character, or serious thought.". It is a greater
challenge in this current age to differentiate between original and
counterfeit. Everything looks so alike, I am sure everyone at some point of
time would have faced the struggle identifying the original, be it in a
commodity or truth in a person. We live in an age of superficiality, hypocrisy
and deception which has become a norm of life in the planet
unfortunately.
Think with me on these attitudes which we display it so often;
how genuine is our greetings? How sincere are we when we inquire about
someone’s welfare? Do we mean when we say, I will pray for you? How about
giving promises to someone? What do you think about the prayer we do in a
gathering? How are we while we are in the pulpit, or while we are leading a
worship or playing music? How sincere are we when we happen to maintain digital
relationship, are we managing it to fill the gaps by sending periodical
messages? All of this can be confined to a superficial level and not bothered about
it in our conscience.
Richard Foster puts it beautifully "superficiality is the curse of our age. The desperate need today is not for
a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”. It is sometimes so true that we
long and wish others are real to us and not be superficial. Would you take
a few moments to ponder over the question Solomon poses in the book of proverbs
(20:5) “Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can
find a trustworthy man?” We may want to
propagate and display so much about ourselves in order to maintain a sacred
position among the people. Sadly, we have to be reminded quite often that the Lord
weighs our hearts (Proverbs 24:12) weighs our motives (Proverbs
16:2) and tests our hearts (Proverbs 17:3) God is looking for
faithful and honest people not somebody whose “niceness” is so
temporal and displayed in selected context and situations. Charles
Swindoll quotes “The most regrettable truths
about the life of faith; faithful people sometimes abandon their faith to
become temporarily faithless” Paul in 2 Timothy (3:5) warns us about people who will be "holding
to the form of godliness"
I have struggled with superficiality in my life and it was
not easy to break it, let me warn you if you do not take all the effort to
address it and shred it then for sure it will break you and leave you barren at
some point. For a certain period of time even with superficiality we can
survive, for many it is a lifestyle I am not referring to them. Warren W.
Weirdness in his book “Too Soon to Quit!” puts it beautifully, ‘We can “manufacture results” without praying, but we cannot bear
lasting fruit that glorifies God. Without prayer we can build a crowd, but not
a spirit-led Church, and we can give religious speeches, but not life changing
sermons that expounds Gods truth.’
You need to find your true identity in Christ to be a person
used for His divine purpose. God is looking for a faithful person not
superficially faithful who are dwelling on ‘feel good factors’. Kindly take
this into cognizance that the great danger is not that we will renounce our
faith but settle for mediocre version of it with superficiality. Whom are we
trying to please anyway? Even Churches are falling prey to it sadly. Warren W Wiersbe
quotes. “Sanctuaries become theaters, worship leaders become entertainers
and everybody is happy except the Lord. The Word of God and prayer are
minimized, booming music is maximized and the gospel is merchandised. This may
be one way to build a crowd, but is it God’s way to glorify Jesus Christ and
build a church?"
Let us consciously try to break superficiality, which has
an effect on our relationships, prayer, reading His word, helping people,
posting messages in social media, our family, in Church, the list is endless.
Ask God to reveal your heart to you and break your terminal niceness and the
person who you are not. Honesty with yourself about yourself your
abilities and lacks, your accomplishments and disappointments, your brilliance
and stupidity, your desires and needs will make you the person you want to be,
live the life you were meant to live, find the answers you need to find. May
God bless you.
Blessings,
David Raj
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