Monday, March 8, 2010

No-Go Showboat

I came of age in what I call the post muscle car era… the time of unleaded, limited, high priced gasoline. However, at the time my musical heroes were from the previous era… the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. Songs like 409, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down, Drag City, and No-Go Showboat, along with the fact that I had an inbred need for speed, drove me to own and drag some fast (for then) cars. It never really mattered to me how a car looked, but that she delivered when called upon did. One of the cars I best remember was a sleeper built and owned by my dad… a 1972 Duster, brown in color and devoid of chrome and the staccato sound that defined most “fast” cars of that day… a very normal looking, sounding car, until his lead foot would hit the floorboard. Some time, when you have time, ask Brenda about Ivan’s brown car… she remembers too. A no-go showboat she was not.

Well… enough about cars. Let’s think about life… a domain in which plenty of no-go showboats exist. I’m referring to people who are MORE concerned with the showroom (their appearance) than with the warehouse (who they are) and thus cannot respond when called upon to deliver what they’ve advertised. Such were the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day. In appearance they were very impressive, but beneath the carefully constructed and maintained facade they were something all together different. They were no-go showboats… noise but no performance… flash but no dash… hearers of the WORD but not doers. So, Jesus spoke to them about their hypocrisy…

You’re hopeless, you religious scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you are saints, but beneath your skin you are total frauds (The Message, Matthew 23:27-28).

These men looked good in the showroom but were busted in the warehouse. And Jesus called them out on it. Let us learn, at their expense, a valuable lesson... when we concern ourselves with the WAREHOUSE of life (who we are in Him) the SHOWROOM of life (our appearance) tends to care of itself.

No more No-Go Showboat for me…

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