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Polishing vs. Peeling

February 23rd, 2009 by Jeremy Sprouse

Sydney J. Harris said: “The personality of man is not an apple that has to be polished, but a banana that has to be peeled . . . Most of us, however, think in terms of the apple, not the banana. We spend our lives shining the surface, in making it rosy and gleaming, in perfecting the ‘image.’ But the image is not the apple, which may be wormy and rotten to the taste.” Think about this parallel for a moment. Most people for whatever reason (to be popular, fear of being hurt, pride, low self-esteem, etc.) hide their true personalities. Instead, they put on a façade—an image they project to the rest of the world.
In several of his epistles, Paul talked of an inner and an outer man. The inner man was dedicated to serving God (Romans 7:22-23), being renewed and strengthened daily by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 4:16, Ephesians 3:16). In contrast, the outer man was decaying and tortured with temptations. It seems the outer man he describes was the perishable body we now inhabit, while the inner man is the soul that will live in eternal glory with God (and will someday get a better body).
Most people spend their time polishing the outer man. We do this through cosmetics, jewelry, clothing, dieting, and exercise. We may also speak in certain ways and engage in particular activities as part of our image to the world. When eternity is in view, however, this is of little value (cf. 1 Timothy 4:8). Paul and Peter both encouraged women to have the hidden person of the heart be their true beauty not cosmetics and adornment (1 Timothy 2:8, 1 Peter 3:3-4). In Matthew 23:25-28, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for washing the outside of the cup and not the inside (i.e., they appeared to be serving God outwardly, but it were full of corruption inwardly). We need to do something other than polish our appearance.
What we should be doing is peeling back the layers so people can see our inner beauty. So they can see the value and improvements brought into our life by Christ. Paul instructed Timothy to be an example of those who believe in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (1 Timothy 4:12). This can only be done if we are showing our inner being to the world. Peeling shows the world how a Christians truly lives and acts. Peeling will also gather friends around you who respect Christian qualities rather than those who merely like your image.
Sadly, many professing to be Christians cannot do this because they do not worship or serve God in their inner being. Instead, like the Pharisees they practice their righteousness to be seen by men (cf. Matthew 6:1). All they have done is polish their appearance to look like Christians. To truly be a Christian we cannot merely polish our lives to look faithful, we must peel away the images we show to the world and let the faith we show be reality.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Bulletin Articles.

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