Trying To Impress Or Being Genuine?

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“Trying To Impress Or Being Genuine?”

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

 

A few weeks ago, I had my 6 month dental cleaning checkup.  As I prepared and flossed and brushed my teeth before going in, it brought back some funny memories of when I was a kid and how I prepared for my check ups.  I wasn’t always great at taking care of my teeth as I liked to eat a lot of candy.  I’m sure I didn’t brush twice a day and didn’t brush the best when I did brush.  I also didn’t floss on a regular basis.  The day of my dentist appts, I would usually brush my teeth really good and hoped that the dentist would be impressed.

 

As you can imagine, as they cleaned and examined my teeth, I would usually hear all the reports of what I wasn’t doing and how I needed to do it better.  I thought by just brushing really hard before my dental appt, that would be good enough.  Nope!  Years later now with numerous cavities and crowns, I’ve learned that I really need to take better care of my teeth.  My dental visits now are not as bad as they used to be, yet I often fear they will find something that is bad and needs fixed.

 

I think we treat our spiritual lives a lot like this.  We don’t always take the greatest care of our walk with God.  I think sometimes we feel like if we show up to church and put in some time, we look good to God and to others.  Just like my quick brushing attempts before going to the dentist when I was younger, we often think we can impress God and pretend with Him, but we can’t. 

 

We can sometimes fool other people for a period of time, but we never can fool God.  I think He often shakes His head in sadness and heartbreak seeing what we do to try to make ourselves look good, but what He truly wants is us being honest and doing our best to be genuine. 

 

Is our desire just to try to impress God and others when we show up Sunday for church and maybe for a small group bible study through the week to look good, or are we striving to take the time each day to grow closer to Him in a very intentional and genuine manner?

 

I know that I often fail in my attempts to be genuine with God and in being intentional in my walk with Him.  He desires for all of us to be intentional and to truly desire time with Him.  He wants our all and not just various times where we try to impress Him. 

 

I hope and pray that our desire each day is to truly be genuine and intentional to grow in our faith.