By Allen White
Like a
coating of silver dross on earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. Enemies
disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit. Though
their speech is charming, do not believe them for seven abominations fill their
hearts. Their malice may be concealed by deception, but their wickedness will
be exposed in the assembly. Proverbs 26:23-26
When I was 12-years-old I spent a week
with my Grandma White. She was a remarkable person. Grandma survived her
husband by about 40 years, raised 12 children, cared for foster children after
her own children were grown, and volunteered to help “senior citizens.” To date,
between children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great
grandchildren, there are 120 of us and growing annually.
During that summer week, my grandma and
I volunteered serving the elderly. It seemed like a fine line between the volunteers
and the elderly in some cases. We visited neighbors, and we made ceramics.
I decided to work on a turtle. Now, I
didn’t create the turtle myself. I started with the clay greenware. My grandma
showed me how to clean it up and smooth out the rough edges. At the end of the
process, we had a clay turtle. Then, I applied some magic paint.
The paint went on white, but once the
ceramic was fired in the kiln, it came out a mix of green and brown. The clay
turtle was now turtle colored - - not through and through, but on the outside.
Now, I wasn’t trying to convince anyone
this was a taxidermy version of a real turtle. It was a ceramic turtle. But, in
this passage, Solomon points to evil and deceitful people who disguise
themselves much like the turtle color disguised the clay.
These people are experts at
manipulation and making everything sound great, even when things aren’t close
to great. They work so hard at deceiving others, they often deceive themselves
in the process.
Some say, “Perception is reality.” But,
in all honesty, “Reality is reality.” Sometimes “Perception is deception.” It’s
someone else’s version of reality, even if that someone else is us.
Deceitful people are often broken and
insecure. Rather than doing the hard work of growing to health and healing,
instead they work hard at covering their tracks and manipulating things to get
their way. This behavior receives a rather strong label in Scripture – evil.
It’s not “he’s just a victim and thus
victimizes others.” It’s not “bless his heart, this is how he’s always been.”
This is “he is choosing to go his own way and refuses to allow God to help
him.”
Rather than honestly confessing what
needs transformation, he just puts on another coat of shellac. We know people
who put it on thick, don’t we? The bigger question is: Are we those people?
What do we feel is easier to cover up
than expose? What bad thing are we trying to put a good face on?
It’s okay to be clay. God knows we’re
fragile. He remembers we came from dust (Psalm
103:13-14). God loves us the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave
us there. No shellac!
More from Allen
White: allenwhite.org
Facebook: Galatians419 Group
Twitter: @galatians419 @allenwhite
I'm so glad God loves me enough to not leave me the same as I was before I knew Him. He is a master artist, I'm good in His hands!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. My stepmother comes to mind. Awhile back it was revealed that she had endured some AWFUL stuff as a child and then married my father and splattered it all over my siblings. It's been denial and funky attitude for decades. My dad is gone now and after an unnecessary explosion from her a few years back I refuse to try to deal with her on a deeper level anymore. I know she's hurting, but you have to WANT to experience something different, too. I pray all the time that she'll change one day, and I know what God can do.
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