Outward Signs and Ordinances

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Jesus was frequently critical during His mortal ministry of the hypocrisy of the pharisees and saducees. He attacked them for observing the outward signs and ordinances despite the fact that their hearts were far from the truth of the principles supposedly signified by those acts of piety. In our day, the pharisaical attitude continues to prevail. People are happy as long as the outward signs are met, because if things look ok, then they must be, right?

Logical fallacy teaches us that things that look good on the outside are good on the inside. I meet young women all the time who have been taken in by the sauve and debonair man who looked the part, spoke the part, and inwardly was "as a ravenous wolf". When I travel to Utah, because of my beard and clothing, people assume that I am a miscreant. Over the weekend, there was much ado about an old picture of President Obama without his hand over his heart during the national anthem. People have spoken as if just because other men observe that outward ordinance that they mean their patriotism.

For my part, I appreciate those who are honest in their outward appearance. The fact that the president goes without an American flag pin and neglects to show national piety to our anthem bothers me less than it bothers others because at least he is not pretending at something like others among us who are hypocrites. His wife pretends to be one of us, shopping at Target and wearing clothes we wear. At least the president in this way is no hypocrite.

Many people have this mistaken belief that if things look fine, they are fine. They want to be able to walk down the hallway and look only at pleasant pictures, forgetting that pictures are momentary snapshots and not indicative of the entire width and bredth of a circumstance. It's as if it matters more that we appear to be happy and prosperous and righteous than that we actually are. People never ask us if we are; they just assume based on what they see. Not everyone who is married or rich is happy, not everyone who has a nice home or car is prosperous, and not everyone who worships on Sunday is righteous any more than everyone who salutes the flag or wears a pin is a real patriot. Far too much of that is pretense and pretend.

God is not fooled by our pins, poise, prose, or pagentry. He looks not on our countenance, decor, stature, status or status updates. While men look on the outward appearance, the Lord looks on the heart. When I was a young man, my parents taught me that it's what's on the inside that matters most. Sometimes, the outside matches the inside, but most of the time what you see is a play. It is done to invite and intice you. If the constant path of someone is consistent with their public face, that's fine. Those are the people who mean it. They are those who are not only called of God but chosen by Him too.