Constancy

TITLE: Constancy
DATE:  Sept. 28, 2019

Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed.

TEXT: Matthew 23:25-26 – ESV -  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean

The Savior said to the Pharisees, and to others, "I wish people would learn to look and examine the inside of things as carefully as they do the outside."

That was certainly true when Adele Gaboury went missing in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Concerned neighbors called the police, and a brother said she had gone to a nursing home. Satisfied, the neighbors began watching her property. When her mail started to pile up, they had it stopped. To keep the outside of the house in tip-top condition, one neighbor had Adele's grass cut by her grandson. When some water pipes broke, they called the utility company to shut off the water.

What no neighbor guessed was that while they were doing their level best to help Gaboury, she had always been inside her home. After a long period of time, police finally investigated the house as a health hazard.

They were surprised, and shocked, to find her body. It appears Gaboury had died of natural causes four years earlier. Those wonderful neighbors (and they were wonderful) had not looked at the inside of things as closely as the outside.

Of course, those neighbors aren't alone.

• The world often judges by externals. Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, John Belushi and Chris Farley had fame, fortune and a future. From the outside, nobody could ask more from life. Yet, each of these men died by a drug overdose, alone and unhappy.
• Alexander the Great had conquered the known world, but he cried because there was nothing left for him to do.
• Julius Caesar received the adulation of numerous nations, but he was killed by his closest friends.

When it comes to human beings, the inside of things can often be quite different than the outside.

That, of course, does not apply to Jesus. Inside and out, He was always our loving Lord and sacrificing Savior. From the cradle to the cross, from Bethlehem to His burial and beyond, He reached out to the wretched and pronounced forgiveness to the most serious of sinners.

In Him there was never an inconsistency between what He showed on the outside and Who He was on the inside. Which is precisely why we know we can count on Him in the best and worst of times. It is why we can rely on Him for help and hope in this world and the next.

It is why, when you see an inconsistency in all those around you, you can  be confident of your Savior. He is always the Lord of love.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, I have seen how false this world can be. Thank You for giving me something to hold on to; for being SI can trust. May others learn to see Your constancy. In Your Name. Amen.
 
The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html