The new convert had no idea it was such a formal church.The pastor
greeted him at the door with a half-hearted smile. His eyes briefly
darted up and down the figure standing before him. The man felt
very ill at ease in his sweater vest and jeans. Nearly driven to
suicide by personal problems, he had turned to Me as a last resort.
After his conversion, he had been referred to that church by phone
counsellors. But for most of the service he ducked his head and
kept to himself. No one else cared to join him in his pew. He could
almost feel the curious eyes of the other men boring holes into
his conspicuous sweater. After all, the mans attire would
have gotten him ejected from any executive boardroom, and their
religion was success. The man mused: If wearing a fancy
suit does THIS to a man, Id better stick with what Ive
got on.
Offering time was the last straw. The poor fellow would not get
paid for two weeks, and only had two quarters to put into the plate.
As it went from hand to hand, he heard the rustle of checks and
twenty-dollar bills going into it and asked My forgiveness for what
he was about to do. The sepulchral stillness of the sanctuary was
broken by a loud CLINK! as his two coins fell together in the paper-filled
plate. The man reproached himself thus: If only Id given just
one quarter! Theres no other coins in the plate, and it wouldnt
have made a clink! Those seated nearby awoke with a start, and an
epidemic of throat-clearing and coughing broke out. More stares.
What must the man do to gain their acceptance, and blend in better
with the wallpaper? If such a one were really serious about becoming
like My Son, I would not have him to strive to acquire traits which
I would only have to purge back out of his life through trials.
My Son is all-wise; yet He possesses the simple heart of a child.
He is the King of Glory; yet He is utterly approachable and accessible
to all who come to Him in humility, admitting that they cannot please
Me without the power of His Life operating in and through them.
The humble saint makes his boast in the Lord; the proud soul wants
only to outshine the wallpaper.