Thursday, June 01, 2006

Inside Out

In my business I am on and off a lot of ships. It can be interesting because you never really know what you are walking into when you board a ship. A really rough looking, poorly maintained ship may have a very competent crew. But maybe their owners won’t pay for proper maintenance. At the same time a really good looking vessel may have an inexperienced crew.

Of course sometimes when the ship looks rough the crew also doesn’t know their business.

The point is you just can’t tell until you get on board what you are walking into.

The same is true when I have to inspect individual containers. There is no way to tell the condition of the cargo inside until the seal is broken and the doors are opened. The nastiest looking rusty container may be full of high dollar cargo. And a pristine brand new box may be mostly empty.

People can be like that too. Some folks are really good at putting up good fronts so that the outside doesn’t match what is really on the inside.

Those people can fool us for a while, but ultimately they will let us down.

The Bible tells us that God is not fooled by appearances
The LORD doesn't make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at a person's thoughts and intentions.
It’s a good thing that God isn’t fooled. And maybe you’re thinking, “Duh! He’s God. Of course He wouldn’t be fooled.”

But I appreciate that He came right out and said it so that I don’t have to guess. And He made point right in the middle of a story to drive it home.

Take a look at that story and you’ll see that character counts. Who we really are on the inside, our driving thoughts and intensions, matters a whole lot more in the end than whatever image we present to everyone else.

Image is not everything!

Being real with folks can be scary. But ultimately it is better in the end because we don’t have to worry about the “what ifs.” What if the image cracks? What if they find out who I really am?

I try to be genuine, a Popeye person. You know, “I am what I am and that’s all that I am and I ain’t no more.” What you see is what you get. It works for me.

How’s keeping that image in place working for you?

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