Sunday Facade

A post by one of my friends got me thinking about how we are on Sunday versus every other day of the week. When we go to church on Sunday, we tend to put on our best clothes, our best smiles, and are on our best behavior. Some people may see this as hypocritical. I don't think it is, though.

Think of it in terms of architecture. While some might see our Sunday best as an attempt to put on a facade, what we're actually doing is letting the underlying construction of our "building" show the beauty of what the Builder has created really shine through. (Think of the beauty of an old home that has "good bones.") What is showing on Sunday is the best architecture ever created.

We're not just cookie cutter houses on a bland suburban street. Each of us has been built with different exteriors, and we all have individualized interior decorating. Sometimes our exterior changes (gaining or losing weight, plastic surgery, scars, different clothing, etc.) and the interior can change only by our own efforts (personal choices, thoughts and desires, level of righteousness, etc.) but underneath it all is a structure that is built with the best materials possible, by an architect who knows perfect ways to build a solid foundation, to put up walls that don't lean, windows that never stick, etc.

That part of us that God built is what gives strength to the rest of our building. And it's that part that shines through when we put forth our best at church on Sunday. Others can look beyond the exterior and get a glimpse of what we were created to be. The facade actually falls away and we are seen for who we really are, even if that doesn't show on our exterior every other day of the week. And it gives us hope that one day our interior decorating and exterior style will match up to the wonderful underlying construction of our building so that we can shine as one of the great works of art of the greatest Builder ever.