Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Lots of people give God the heave-ho when things in their lives don’t go according to plan. Prayers are sent upward to Jesus asking Him to bless the business, the kids and to watch over their flight when they take off from JFK. We recite a “wish list” for God to tend to as we clamor about thinking of new things for Him to do for us. The trouble is when things we ask for are rejected or our “wish list” doesn’t come to pass, we say good-bye to Jesus.
When we say adios to God because our requests have not been met according to our satisfaction or in our timing, what we have really revealed is that we married God for His money. When we hear that some young babe is dating an 84-year-old wealthy man we arch our eyebrows and say, “Tsk, Tsk…she’s only after his money.” Our contempt for this kind of user relationship is as obvious as bellman holding out his hand for a tip after he has deposited our luggage in the hotel room. But how is the voluptuous gold-digger any different than you and I when we only look to God to get us the things we really want on earth? The answer is “not very much difference…if any.”

When we say we love Jesus but put conditions on that love, we have married God for His money. If we are saying, “I will serve God if I can just get that promotion” or “If I can just get paroled, then I will serve Jesus on the outside” we are worshiping what we want from Him and not the Jesus who gave His life for us, unconditionally.

Those things we want more than Jesus are idols, pure and simple. Anything we place higher on our value list replaces the King of the Universe in our lives. Bargaining with God to get what we want, all wrapped up in high-minded theology and well-spoken prayers is just putting lipstick on a pig. You can dress up a pig, put it in an Armani dress and give it a Chanel bag, but in the end, it’s still a pig.

Our relationship with Jesus must be built on loving Him for who He is, NOT what He can do for us. He has already done the maximum by giving His life. What more do we really need…seriously!

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