Excerpt from 2 Corinthians 10:1-11 (NIV)

"…you are judging by appearance…"

Reflection by Donna Schaper
 
Appearance matters.  What other people see when they look at us matters.  We care what others think.  Some of us are also slightly bothered by how much we care about what others think.  We live with a sense that we are being pulled in too many directions.  Time runs out, just about every day.

The real reason we live in such a severe time famine is not that we care so much about appearance.  Nor is it that we wish we didn't.  The real reason is that we do both at the same time.  We get dressedóand not just in clothes but also ideas, peer-approved speeches, family-sanctioned behaviors and general good old-fashioned conformity, the kind we disdained in high school.  We also individuateóand spend magnificent amounts of energy trying to make sure we aren't saying the same thing everybody else is saying on Facebook but instead something unique, eloquent, poetic, and personal.  The time famine comes from doing what everybody else tells you to do and also trying to dance to the beat of your own drummer.

What would the writer to the people at Corinth have us do?  He surely was not pleased by those who judged others by appearances.  My hunch is that he would have us do less of both individuating and appeasing.  We could shift towards a larger security than what others can give us or we can give ourselves.  We could also reposition both the place of blame and criticism in our lives.  Zen teachings tell us that blame and criticism are just reverse sides of the same proverbial coin.  In each, we let others say who we are. 

My home energy guru tells me that they have changed their conservation advice.  They used to think the way to save energy was to keep the cold out.  Install storm windows.  Now they are telling me to keep the warm in.  I am to insulate my attic.  I wonder what that means about judging by appearances. I wonder how I can dance the jig of the "both/and" and not lose my center as a child of God.

Prayer

O God, you who are my energy, my time, my focus, my insulation, my judgment, draw near and help me to keep up appearances while reducing my interest in them. Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press. Check out her work at www.judson.org.

The Daily Devotional is now on Facebook. Become a fan!

Sign up to receive Daily Devotionals

More items written by the Stillspeaking Writers' Group