Get Real

Get Real

People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7

A young priest saw a vision of God in a great cathedral. He ran to the bishop and, gasping to breathe, he said, “I have just seen a vision of God. He’s behind that pillar over there. What should we do?” The bishop said, “Quick! Look busy!”

Do you ever feel like that with God? Sometimes we run around doing everything we can think of in an effort to impress God and everybody else—and sometimes it’s just everybody else. That’s because it’s easy to be motivated by outward reward, or inward guilt or fear. People who rate high on spiritual and mental health, however, are motivated by a genuine hunger and thirst. For example, they love because love flows from their hearts—not because they want to prove how loving they are or to clear their consciences.

In the play Murder in the Cathedral, T. S. Eliot wrote these insightful lines: “The last temptation is the greatest treason / To do the right deed for the wrong reason.” In the play the words are spoken by the character of Thomas Becket, who was to be martyred for his beliefs, and suddenly he saw that his final temptation would be to choose martyrdom for immortal fame—for the wrong reason, clearly. But how often in our own ordinary lives do we face the same temptation? No matter how small the situation, anytime we allow an outward appearance of a false motivation to cloak the true motivation in our hearts, we fall victim to this “greatest treason.”

God does not want us doing “busywork” or suffering from the proverbial “disease to please.” He does not want us to do what he says merely to have a clear conscience. He doesn’t want us going through the meaningless motions. No, he wants us to follow him and his ways because we want to. In fact, we can’t truly love any other way. God wants genuineness. We may look at the outward appearance, but according to today’s verse, the Lord looks at the heart.

So how are you doing in this area? Are you being genuine with God—and with each other? Are you doing the right thing for the right reasons? If you’re simply trying to “look busy,” it’s probably time to get real.

Genuine love is so contrary to human nature that its presence bears witness to an extraordinary power.

—John Piper