Superficial External Living
In the modern world, we have become accustomed to a lifestyle that is totally consummed by what appeals to our five senses. Hurricane Ike brought that message home loud and clear to South Texas this past weekend. Superficial external living can only take one so far, and that's not very far at all.
A visitor from Romania couldn't imagine what all the fuss was about because we didn't have electricity for a few days! We have no clue or understanding of the world out there where 50% of the planet has not yet made a phone call, where 50% of the planet lives on less than $2 a day, and where anything cold can only be found in Alaska.
We've become accustomed to feeding our physical-external desires.
Spirituality has become a numbers game and nothing whatsoever to do with what's INSIDE of a person. It's all the external stuff. A person is doing spiritually well if they're rich. A church is doing spiritually well if they have large numbers attend on Sunday and have a TV ministry. How elegant are the homes and how big are the stained glass windows? Those are the measures of superficial external living and they have nothing to do with true spiritual growth.
As Jim Cymbala wrote in his boo, Fresh Faith, "In the organized church, too many pastors are interested in attendance alone, which has nothing to do with the church's health. You can easily pack a building without pleasing God, because crowds do not equal spirituality." God looks on the inside, into the heart of a person. It wasn't what David looked like, but wht was in David's heart that got God's attention.
And that's still the case.
Don't put down the external! Just keep the five senses in checl to your spirit lest you fall into the deception that YOU are the one who is giving the good gifts (to yourself), and not God.
Related Tags: spirituality, south texas, hurricane ike, superficial external living, tv ministry, jim cymbala, organized church
As a spiritual-futurist, I interpret current events in light of possible macro-universal forces at play leading up to 2012, but not limited to it.
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