Facades Of Life

It is said, “You can’t make a silk purse from a sows ear” and the meaning behind this is, it’s impossible to make something excellent from poor material. Even though I changed my career focus several years back, I still receive free magazines and information from the auto/truck industry concerning parts sales and service. I generally glance through them to see and wonder over the new things the engineers are coming up with. I think it won’t be long before an owner/operator of a vehicle repair shop is going to have to be a college grad with an engineering degree to be successful in the trade. Well, most of these publications are geared toward the young entrepreneur about to get their feet wet in the wonderful world of owning a business. (I think everyone should own a business at least once in their life. They would certainly come away with a greater understanding for the decisions of their next employer.) Most of the articles deal with what to, and what not to do when getting started in business. The greatest aspect dealt with is appearance to the public, your potential customers. Developing the proper eye candy on the street side of your building and the atmosphere (first impression) one step inside the door is stressed over and over again. I never was too good at that. I just did good work at a fair price. But then again, my entrepreneurship only lasted 20 years.
Imagine for a moment your life is a house with four walls. The front wall is the side you show the world. It’ where you put your best foot forward, you know, the carefully crafted image we all have. One of the side walls, or the second wall of our life is the “private” side, the person that only your family, close friends and co-workers see. This side is usually a little rougher than the front, since these people know the “real” you a little better. They sometimes see you at your worst and know how bad you can really be. The third wall is worse still, a hidden side, the image of yourself that you keep in your own mind. This side is rougher yet, because it includes many hidden sins that you alone know about, the darker parts of your inner self that are carefully hidden from even those closest to you. Finally we reach the back of the house, the fourth wall. The fourth wall is the image of you that God sees. It can be the most beautiful or the most embarrassing side because there is nothing you can do to conceal a single part of it from the piercing eyes of God. Strangely, this side of you can be the worst or the best side of all.
[Galatians 3: 26-27] By a miracle of grace, the fourth wall really can become the most beautiful wall, more perfect even than the carefully groomed image of the first wall. For as a baptized believer, the blood of Jesus covers your sins like a fresh coat of gleaming white paint that will never crack, peel or fade. Christ can make the fourth wall of your life more perfect than any of the other three, simply because the first three are your creation, but the fourth is His. And in Christ when God looks at you He sees a perfection you could never attain on your own; He sees the perfect image of His own son. Guess what happens when you start to see the beauty and craftsmanship that Jesus is putting into your fourth wall; your soul; your everlasting spirit. You ask Him if there might be a way for Him to help you work on the other three walls of your house. Now this I have done, and I know my relationship with the world, family, friends, co-workers, myself and God has changed for the better. A sinner has become saved in truth and love.