As Ugly As I Seem

I am as ugly as I seem
Worse than all your dreams
Could ever make me out to be
And it makes me want to scream

Jack White

8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. ⁹ For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you ¹⁰always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

Romans 1:8-10

The mark of true Christian joy is to first and foremost, praise God for the good that we see in others and to rejoice with them. As Christians, when we receive praise, we should quickly redirect praise to God, for it is from God that all good things flow and from Him we bear fruit that is pleasing. Nowhere in scripture is this more explicit than in John 3:21. "But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." We know that no good comes from ourselves which is why we have no reason to boast. News of the faith of the Roman church had spread throughout the empire and Paul sees the sovereign work of God in bringing His people into the light. Martin Luther states, "Christian love manifests itself in this, that it rejoices at every good thing that it sees in others, especially in their spiritual blessings, and thanks God for them." Oh, how I have envied everything from material possessions to spiritual blessings from both my brothers and sisters in Christ to those that do not believe. Oh, how I have envied attention and praise from mortal men. Father, forgive us all for seeking the glory of men and comparing ourselves to others, for taking our eyes off the goodness You have bestowed to us and desired what others have. May we live like Paul, who though he did not plant the Roman church or disciple its leaders, saw fit to praise You for your glory and rejoice with them. Help me to rejoice in my brother's good news and like Paul, let my rejoicing glorify You and inspire my brother to continue to press on in faith, toward You.

The mark of true Christian witness is a life of prayer and intercession without ceasing. Just as Christ is interceding for us on our behalf, so we must intercede for our brothers and sisters, our natural families, and for the lost. We are to pray for the good of all because of the love of Christ that seeks the good of all. How often does the bulk of our time in prayer focus on ourselves? How often do we pray small minded materialistic prayers? How often do our prayers get lost in the recesses of our mind as we lose focus on the task at hand? Prayer is not something to be taken lightly. Jesus often snuck away to a place of solitude to pray for hours at a time. What keeps us from practicing this? I find myself thinking all sorts of things, from checking off my to do list to wondering what's for dinner, when I pray. Oh, to be like the Apostle Paul, that I would value the art of prayer and intercede for those that most desperately need intercession instead of worrying about myself and my temporal desires! When looking at myself in the mirror of God's holiness, any reason I thought I had to boast is exposed and I see the desperate sinner that I am. I am reminded of the lyric from the Caedmon's Call song, My Calm/Your Storm: "I wanna kill this thief that steals life from me and kill myself, the Pharisee." Let us all look in the mirror and the ugliness that we see, let that draw us all the more fervently to our Redeemed Lord, Jesus Christ, who has saved us from this ugliness and like Paul and the Roman Church, let our faith not only be a light to our brothers and sisters, that we are rejoicing with and interceding for, but also to a lost world that does not have the hope we have in Christ.