Egyházi Értesítő, 1994 (365-367. szám)
1994-07-01 / 366. szám
E 9ÍQLmSECIh09i THE TEST OF OUR FAITH N ARTIST FRIEND once reminded me how she had tried to teach me. as a small boy. to draw but I couldn't understand oerspective. It took a great deal of explanation to make me realise that I had to draw things as they looked and not as they really were, and that circles had to be drawn as ovals and railway lines drawn as if they were going to meet, all of which I found extremely confusing. I had to learn that appearances can be deceptive and that, throughout life, we are faced with the problem of differentiating between outward appearance and reality. The new job which seems so attractive in anticipation may be considerably different in the light of experience, and many have thought the old thatched cottage delightful until they have actually lived in it I In Scripture, we find the same tension. The prophet Samuel went to anoint one of Jesse's sons as King Saul's successor and on seeing Eliab felt sure that here was the right person, but he was rejected: "for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (I Samuel 16:7). We think of the apostles as close to our Lord, and so they were, physically, living with Him for three years - but they were at times remote spiritually, as is shown by their questions, retorts and displays of cowardice. Jesus complained of inconsistency in the religious practice of His day-"This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth . .. but their heart is far from Me" (St. Matthew 15:8), and illustrated His point by a parable in which a Pharisee kept all the Law and seemed to be devout yet his heart was far away from God; while a publican, who thought himself beyond the pale, was close to Jesus (St. Luke 18:10-14). I once knew a woman who from childhood had never strayed from Christianity and had done all that was required and more; one day she confessed that her religion was hollow and meant nothing to her and said she wondered whether she had ever really believed. It was a tremendous shock to her but fortunately it roused her from complacency and eventually she formed a friendship with Christ - a relationship with Him deeper than she had ever known. An extreme case, perhaps, but it is easy through force of habit to think we are near to our Lord (as the apostles did) when all the time we may be a long way from Him. 14 Egyházi Értesítő 1994 július hó
