"Money, looks, and attitude are all weighed and ranked IN A FEW
SECONDS, along with a sense of whether you belong." "Barbarians at
the Gate," New York Times Style Magazine, Travel Fall, 2009 pg 66.
It's called "face control." When you present yourself at the door
of many Moscow nightclubs, you are met by a gatekeeper who decides if you're
worthy. Do you look like you have a $50,000 limit credit card?
But money alone isn't enough. You have to be not only rich, but the right age,
wearing the right styles, the right shoes, and displaying the right attitude
and image to enhance the "pretty picture" inside the club.
In the seventies, in junior college English class, we used to discuss
"style" and "substance." Frankly, I can't recall how we
talked about them…but it was something about which was more important. Moscow
nightclubs have decided style trumps substance.
Once again, I'm grateful for a God who looks deeply. A God who sees our
desire to honor him rather than our increasingly saggy skin. He who rushes to
meet us when we come in from the country in our overalls. The father who sweeps
us onto his lap with a sparkle in his eyes.
Neither our style nor our substance matter. What matters is that, by faith
in Jesus' sacrifice, we have presented ourselves to him. Glory. No "face
control" at the gates of heaven.
Dear Father-God, we rejoice today in your great heart toward us.