Thank You for a good night’s sleep and a little extra than usual this morning, Father. Guide this day as You see fit. May I accomplish what You deem important. Amen
Revelation 3:1-3 (<<click on green)
Lord, as I read of the church in Sardis a sermon illustration comes to mind. The church looked alive on the outside but was dead on the inside.
The Queen Mary was the largest ship to cross the oceans when it was launched in 1936. Through four decades and a World War, she served until she was retired and anchored as a floating hotel and museum in Long Beach, California. But when she was retired from active passenger service, it was discovered that part of her gleaming exterior was hiding something far less attractive and substantial.
Her three elliptical smoke stacks, 36 feet long, 23 feet wide, and ranging from 70 down to 62 feet in height, were made of sheets of steel over an inch thick. During her decades of service, at least 30 coats of paint had been applied to the massive smokestacks, forming a shell around the steel interior. But when they were removed, after her decommissioning, for maintenance it was discovered that they were nothing but shells. When lifted off the liner and placed on the docks, they crumbled!
Over the years, the thick steel of which they had been made had turned to rust from long exposure to heat and moisture. The beautiful exteriors of the smokestacks revealed a rusty, crumbly interior that spoke not of beauty and elegance but of deterioration and decay. The external appearance was hiding the internal reality.
Lord, help me to be the real deal down to my core. May what people see have no pretense. May I “hold…firmly” to what I “heard and believed at first…” Amen.
July 20th, Thurs, 8:52 am
