Eric Jones just asked me to add his blog Transformed Daily to my blogroll. So I started looking through it and came across this wonderful illustration here:
I was what I call an ornamental orange Christian – I looked great on the outside, but when the shiny peel was removed it uncovered a spiritually dry and bitter inside. I did not passionately seek God’s face in sincere prayer and meditation on his Word. I was actually living for myself and not for God.
Are you an ornamental orange Christian? Am I? I certainly have been, and at times I still find myself drying up like this – although when this happens I don’t usually care too much about looking great outside. Read how God put things right for Eric, and how he can do the same for you and me. As we pursue an intimate relationship with God, we can become not ornamental oranges but tasty and juicy ones which, even if they don’t look quite so perfect, have a lasting attractiveness.
Eric, welcome to my blogroll!
Peter,
It’s great to be onboard! May the transformation continue.
Eric
http://www.TransformedDaily.com
I have to confess that I always have a hard time with this sort of question.
If I say ‘No, I’m not an ornamental Christian’, I would feel that I was being boastful and full of pride and viewing myself as better than others.
Some of the greatest Christians went through ‘dark nights of the soul’; is that a ‘dry and bitter Christian’? Some people are not emotional or passionate by nature, yet we sometimes seem to demand outward passion.
I just do not know what these sorts of questions mean.
Pam, my question was intended as rhetorical, to prompt thought and prayer. I agree that an answer “No, I’m not” could be boastful and proud. And I’m sure all of us have been through times when we feel dry and even bitter.
Also I am not looking for outward passion, which can so easily be part of our ornamentation if we are in a church where it is considered good and spiritual to be passionate and emotional. My concern actually is more for the hypocrisy of polishing ourselves up to look ornamental on the outside, which may include becoming outwardly passionate, when this does not match what is inside us. Compare Matthew 23:27.