CHAPTER 50 – VANITY
Romans 12:3 New Living Translation (NLT)
3 Because of the privilege and authority[a] God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.[b]
In this lesson, I’m teaching my experience with Vanity. A little known fact — vanity for all of us can work two ways — too much stuff, not enough stuff — I’ll explain in a minute — the bottom line is vanity pushes us to get the wrong stuff. It’s not necessarily that I’m better or not better than anybody else, it’s that I don’t think I’m what I am, so I invent a me that isn’t me. Weird.
Do you serve the world or do you serve the Lord?
You may have heard me talk about Principle #2 in reorganization. There are 4 of them, this is #2, it’ll help you clarify your position. Always supportive, slightly detached and always, always equal. You remember the cup people? The cup people are very important, when you are outside of the cup you are in service to the King and others around you. Principle #2 is only asked by those who are outside of the cup. People inside of the cup believe themselves to be large and in charge until all of it dries up and the cup world and everything in it is over. So Principle #2, use it wisely, you’re never above or below anyone, you are even with them and here to assist wherever possible, and correctly, which is a whole job in and of itself. So vanity…, let’s talk about it. How do you know who you are or what you’re supposed to be? Scripture tells us we are a new creation in Christ, true. What do you do with that?
Proverbs 3:5-6
New International Version
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.[a]
Which brings me to my experience with two sides of Vanity. I am going to point out examples of these two very different sides of Vanity as I have experienced it. Some may say this has something to do with self-esteem, perhaps fear, perhaps confusion, stupidity, any number of emotional anomaly’s yet to be determined and too numerous to name. I say who cares. We need answers, solution and direction — period, not rhetoric or years of professional help yielding more questions than answers.
Colossians 3:9 New International Version (NIV)
Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.
How do I deal with Vanity? Is Vanity a bad thing, should I not want good things for myself? Well, in a word — maybe. I find that I need to ask the right question not invent more questions. What is the right question? There is only one in this chapter. “What do I need to do the job that needs to be done?” Say it again. “What do I need to do the job that needs to be done?” In answering that question I’m far clearer on what I’m suppose to talk about, what I’m suppose to wear and what tools I need for the job. If I’m in construction I need a truck, comfortable/rugged clothing, a hat for my head to shield the sun and the correct tools to do the job. Clearly I don’t need a Maserati, a diamond bracelet, a new weave, thousand dollar shoes and a grill on my teeth. That would not be the correct answer to “what I need today on the job.”
How do I work with humility, self-esteem, social pressure, perception and perspective? Perception and Perspective: perception is what is in my head-what I think is happening which may or may not be true and most of the time is definitely not accurate. You’ve heard me say before, “your head is a dangerous neighborhood, don’t go in there by yourself.” Perspective on the other hand is a mathematical term. It is actually a measurement and a measurement is something I can actually see and make an accurate assessment. Let’s stick to the facts. On any given day I have a job to do.
What kind of hair do I need? What color polish on my nails? What kind of car? What kind of airplane? What should I talk about it, or not? What church should I go to? What people should I hang out with or not? What bible verses should I quote and the list could go on. Depending on the circumstances these may be good questions. If I’m going for a job interview best I concern myself with personal presentation, if I’m headed for a bible study best be prepared for the correct verses. I wouldn’t wear work boots and a giant sun hat, chaps and a tool belt to church, that would be incorrect.
Again, what tools do I need to do the job requirements for today, the job that the Lord has given me on the list this very day, this very moment, no myth, the real deal where the rubber meets the road. Where did God call you to be right now, right now, right now, right now. He will provide everything you need to do what He wants you to do, right now, right now. That’s a set of words that matters.
Philippians 4:19
English Standard Version
19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Is it vanity that makes me buy a Maserati instead of a truck? Perhaps, I prefer to call it stupid but for the moment we will stay with Vain, I want to look good, as if what God has made me isn’t good enough. A waste of time and money, time and money the Lord has provided for me, especially when I’m trying to load asphalt for my job today and I don’t have a truck. Is it Vanity that makes me spend money on plastic surgery instead of paying my health insurance, just because I don’t like my face this morning? Is it Vanity that forces me to make payroll instead of pay my taxes? Maybe my face needs help, maybe for years I didn’t cover it in the sun and now there’s problems. Maybe today I’m trying to get a job at the Maserati factory so I need the right car? Maybe I have to finish a job — and in order to do that I have to pay my employees — and then deal with the IRS bill. Are any of these real situations? Could be? You see, we have to find the truth in every situation and do the right thing. Sometimes the right thing must be without ego, and a whole lot of humble pie as they say. People perceive benefit — “if I do this then I’ll really be groovy”, be careful with that statement. “If I borrow more money, buy a new this and that, then I’ll really make things happen with the rest of the money after I buy a few things I need even though I already owe a bunch of money.” Be very careful with that statement. In that thinking, somewhere there may be things necessary, shrouded in things unnecessary and wasteful.
Proverbs 11:2
New International Version
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
Now, for sheer excitement, let me give you the other side of Vanity. Instead of getting expensive items that we feel will help us look like “the in crowd”, we do the opposite for the same reason.
Let’s make up an example. I’m in construction, let’s say. Instead of a Ford F-250 dump truck which I might need to do a job, I’m sure I’m not worth that super good dump truck, I’ve been a schmuck and I don’t think I’m worth it, so instead I buy a mini-truck to do the job of a big truck. When people see me in that, they will know how frugal I am and really think I’m something.
Do I really need to explain what happens when you show up with a mini truck and you need a real truck?
Rather than get the right hair style, I don’t deserve it, so I cut it myself. Unless you’re going for a shave cut, without hair, doing it yourself generally doesn’t work out. I don’t deserve re-constructive face surgery, or dental surgery, I’ll save the money and tell people how smart I am, I’ll get to it when I have a million dollars in the bank. I skip health insurance, my family is healthy. Could you be more destructive? I’ll forfeit my own pay causing foreclosure on my house, skip payroll tax to buy my my goofy truck, throw my tax notice to levy into a drawer and tell my spouse we will save the money, frugal is my middle name! All insanity, just ask the question, “what does the job require today.”
Proverbs 18:12
New International Version
12
Before a downfall the heart is haughty,
but humility comes before honor.
Ask God what you need today, and ask for a blessing over your chores. That’s it. Don’t think about it too much. Just do the job and use what is necessary. Sure I’m giving you exaggerations, but am I? We do really silly things to prove something that doesn’t need proving, all of us do such things.
The difference between things you want and things you need. A blessing or a trap. Generally things I want are a trap and things I need —- God provides. C’mon, that doesn’t mean we don’t need nice things, quite the opposite, we need what we need for the job. Things you need are hard to pay for, but not as hard to pay for as doing it wrong. Don’t go with how you feel, go with what needs to be done. Don’t decide what you deserve either too much or too little, just exactly what is needed in His Grace giving Him all the glory. When it comes time for a haircut, go to the right guy, time for tools, get the correct brand, time for a vehicle pay the price for the right one, clothes the same mindset, personal items, kids, office, food — get what is needed, what is correct not your perception of cool or hip or anything else but what is needed.
Exodus 4:10-12 ESV
But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
Notice, God did not say, Hey Moses, you want to lead the people, prove you’re worth it, wear sandals that are too small, clothes that don’t fit, cut your hair weird and drive a camel way too small for you and your brother. Then I will know you are worthy. You notice He also didn’t say, Hey Mo, get a camel with chrome toe covers and a golden saddle, some designer robes and a new blonde weave up top, so you look the part, then let’s talk. He just said, hey Mo, go on, you’re fine, as is, get to work, I’ll keep you posted along the way and you’ll be more than good because I’ll show you what to do. “I got you” is basically what God said.
The first rule of leadership is to be the job. People relax when you show up with the right tools, you talk with purpose and you care. Billy Page wrote a song for Dobie Gray that hit the charts in 1965. The lyrics highlight what I’m talking about today.
I’m in with the in crowd
I go where the in crowd goes
I’m in with the in crowd
And I know what the in crowd knows
Any time of the year, don’t you hear?
Dressin’ fine, makin’ time
We breeze up and down the street
We get respect from the people we meet
They make way day or night
They know the in crowd is out of sight
I’m in with the in crowd
I know every latest dance
When you’re in with the in crowd
It’s easy to find romance
These are the things that get us into trouble, waste time, mess up our priorities and have nothing to do with the Lord. Rather step up, grow up, mature in the you the Lord has made.
Matthew 5:37
New King James Version
37 But let [a]your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
Vanity, for me, has two faces. The wrong expensive stuff, the wrong inexpensive stuff. It all costs the same in the end and wastes the time and blessings that God has given. How do I make sense of it? Back to the book, kiddos.
Matthew 6:31-34 New International Version (NIV)
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
What do we conclude of this chapter? Keep it simple. Don’t ask too many questions when there’s work to be done. Be glad for the work, dress correctly, get the tools, make the list, get her done. Vanity causes massive doubt, debt, weird investments, ridiculous schemes and worse. God is trying to teach us not to do dumb things. How do we hear Him? What is the solution? CUT IT OUT!! JUST STOP! GET BACK TO THE JOB!
James 1:6 ESV
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
What’s the prayer, possibly?
Lord Jesus, you are right here, right now. You are not patching things up. You are making them new again. Open my mind to what new means. Open my heart to what new could be. And let it be with me. And let me be a participant in this work with you. Right here, Jesus. Right now Jesus. Amen.
As I said in the beginning of this chapter.
Romans 12:3 New Living Translation (NLT)
3 Because of the privilege and authority[a] God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.[b]
This week I heard a voice from coming through the phone saying something I have heard a lot. It goes something like this: “hey, buddy, I’m not doom and gloom, I’m here for the good ride, you only live once and you gotta get all you can get, and ride the ride baby — the rest of this mumbo jumbo is for the birds, I’m good with my EIDL loan and I’m going to roll it into a few investment properties and kick back, do my own thing. You only live once man and I’m going to get all I can get and enjoy life, that’s what it’s all about.”
There is a sliver of truth in that set of words. You only live once. Doom and gloom is waiting for all of us, if we stumble. The parking ticket we all pay for our mistakes is generally paid for by our families, our children, time wasted with profits and talents given to us by the Lord. There is doom and gloom in this life and in the after life for those who continue to choose vanity as a false god. Respect the warnings, you only live once, make a difference, stand before the Lord with a good resume and live forever.
The Crown of Righteousness – (2 Timothy 4:8) “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” We inherit this crown through the righteousness of Christ which is what gives us a right to it, and without that it cannot be obtained. It is obtained and possessed in a righteous way, not by force and deceit as earthly crowns sometimes are, it is an everlasting crown, promised to all who love the Lord and eagerly wait for His return. Through our enduring discouragements, persecutions, sufferings, or even death, we know assuredly our reward is with Christ in eternity (Philippians 3:20). This crown is not for those who depend upon their own sense of righteousness or of their own works. Such an attitude breeds only arrogance and pride, not a longing, a fervent desire to be with the Lord. Stay out of the black forest, there are no short cuts, God has made a magnificent you, give it back to Him, do all things to bring glory to Him not you.
Dig it, kids. God’s love is a rough ride, but not as rough as without God. You don’t need a new suit or a new haircut for some occasion, you need the right suit and the right haircut, the right tools, the right information and of course we all need the right God, the only God, the Lord Jesus is your savior and mine. Stay with the A team and run with the King. Amen.
