Appearances

In 1884 a young man died, and after the funeral his grieving parents decided to establish a memorial to him. With that in mind they met with Charles Eliot, president of Harvard University. Eliot received the unpretentious couple into his office and asked what he could do. After they expressed their desire to fund a memorial, Eliot impatiently said, "Perhaps you have in mind a scholarship." "We were thinking of something more substantial than that... perhaps a building," the woman replied. In a patronizing tone, Eliot brushed aside the idea as being too expensive and the couple departed. The next year, Eliot learned that this plain pair had gone elsewhere and established a $26 million memorial named Leland Stanford Junior University, better known today as Stanford! (Published by Today in the World, 1992). Appearances can be deceiving. This is why men do not judge men with regard to their eternity. Jesus pronounced a woe on the Pharisees because they were the clean surface with the corrupt center (Matt. 23:25-28). Today many people continue to keep up "appearances." They dress Christianity. You can see them on Sunday. They may look good to the elders, brethren, and the community. But within the heart of many who appear godly something is incredibly wrong. But God cannot be fooled. "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Heb. 4:13). Some people look like nothing and are spiritual giants. Others look the part but are whitewashed tombs. As Daniel of old said, "But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets..." (Dan. 2:28). Remember humility. There is a God in heaven who can see through appearances.