Re[2]: ? on rings

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

>.--snip--  it seem that what you've been told is not that jewelry is
>wrong to wear but the attitude is what is wrong. How many people are
>there in the church that keep the UPC's dress standards but wear
>expensive watches, drive expensive cars, and live in expensive homes
>just to show their wealth? I would say there are a lot of them( or at
>least people try to attain these possessions to show off).  --snip--


     God is not as much interested in the outward as He is on the
inward.  Don't misunderstand my statement.  God is interested in the
outward appearance.  But the outward appearance is merely the fruit
or the outward expressions of what is on the inside.  Some people miss
the point and try to put the cart before the horse.  Thinking as
long as they can put forth the outward appearance others will
believe that they are the like on the inside or in the heart.  This is
a hard way to live.  You always have to be on guard not to show
what is really on the inside.

     This is not the way God meant for it to be.  He does the work on
the inside and the evidence of it shows forth on the outside.  Just
like in receiving the Holy Ghost:  He fills us with his Spirit on the
inside and the evidence of it is found in the outward expression of
speaking in tongues.  This is the reason why Jesus rebuked the
Pharisees in saying:  "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites!  for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the
platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Thou blind
Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that
the outside of them may be clean also.  Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites!  for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which
indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones, and of all uncleanness.  Even so ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
(Matthew 23:25-28).  He wanted them to know it is not the outward
appearance that is of greatest importance but the state of the heart,
the attitude behind it.

     Let's take a look a King Saul and King David.  God was time and
time again ready to forgive David of his sins but when it came to
Saul God said, "It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king..."
(I Samuel 15:11).  Why was this?  Was it because Saul sinned far above
that of which David did.  Certainly not!  Wasn't it King David who
committed adultery and then killed Bathsheba's husband to try to cover
it.  Obviously it was not the amount of sin but instead the attitude
which lingered in the heart once the sin was committed.  Saul, in
God's words, "turned back from following me..." (I Samuel 15:11).
David on the other hand was a man after God's own heart.  Heart!  God
says heart not outward appearance.  Could this be because He is much
more concerned with where the heart is then anything else?!  I Samuel
16:7 says, "...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on
the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."  Praise
the Lord!!!  God doesn't look at all of my failures and short
comings on the outward and think "oh what a waste this one is".
Instead He looks at the heart and says' "Yes!, if I do a little work
here and a lot of work here this precious one of mine will be
just fine.  For you see his heart is where it needs to be."  Doesn't
that take a lot of unneeded pressure off?

     To bring this all to an end let me quote David's heart talking to
the Lord.  "O God, thou art my God; early will seek thee: my soul
thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty
land, where no water is;  To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have
seen thee in the sanctuary.  Because thy lovingkindness is better than
life, my lips shall praise thee.  Thus will I bless thee while I live:
I will lift up my hands in thy name.  My soul shall be satisfied as
with narrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful
lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the
night watches.  Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the
shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.  My soul followeth hard after
thee: thy right hand upholdeth me."  (Psalms 63:1-8).  This is the
state the we need to allow God to keep our hearts in.  Not allowing
our hearts to was cold. For it is the repentent heart and contrite
spirit God is more interested in.

May god bless you,

Jim Millette