Many people have that approach to life. Sam Malone (from the sitcom Cheers) summed it up for us when he said, “Its not whether you win or lose, its how good you look while you’re doing it.” It’s all about appearances. It’s all about looking good, smelling good and acting good. It’s not whether you win or lose… it’s how you play the game.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day loved to play the game. They were notorious for having everything going right on the outside. They spent their days working on ways to impress others with pious outfits, lofty language and arrogant swaggers.

They knew how to talk the talk. They were masters of criticism, backstabbing and judging others…Maybe you know some people like that. They keep a mental checklist of your faults. They are constantly assessing whether or not you measure up to their pious standards. They keep record of your church attendance. They are keenly aware of who is performing satisfactorily and who is not.

I once had a church member secret me outside to the back of his car after church because he had a special gift for me. It was a dark blue pinstriped three-piece suit. When I asked him why he would buy me a suit like this he told me it was “good for my image” and would “help me fit in better”. As soon as I left that church that suit went to Goodwill.

Jesus never came to establish a dress code or social club. He came to proclaim liberty to the captives and sight for the blind. He came to transform hearts not wardrobes. I have learned that it is a simple thing to clean up the outside and still be evil on the inside. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against piety. Some of my best friends are pious. The problem comes when we begin to believe that it is more important to look holy than to be holy.

1 Samuel 16:7 says, “God doesn’t see like we see, for people look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.” Our priority must not be ‘talking the talk’. We need to start with ‘walking the walk’. God wants us to work on the inside before we worry about the outside. Acting holy has nothing whatsoever to do with being holy. It’s almost impossible to keep up the pretense indefinitely if it doesn’t come from the heart. It’s just too hard to be perfect. It’s too hard to keep up the pretense. The fact is, I’m not that good at acting holy. I’m not Mother Theresa or my wife Marianne.

For years I tried to play the socially prescribed religious games in order to fit in or be ‘acceptable’. I think the world refers to that as being a hypocrite. The good news of Christianity is that Jesus Christ came to transform us from the inside out. True holiness is letting God have his way in your heart.

Renewal works its way to the surface as we are honest and authentic. Holiness begins by humbly admitting our need for total dependence on God. I love Tony Campolo’s quote. He says, “We have been told by the church to pretend. Pretend that you are fine. Pretend that you are fine. Pretend we are all fine. Well I’m not fine. I have a new motto for the church ­ “I’m not o.k. You’re not o.k.. But God says that’s o.k.” That really is the good

news of the gospel. No more games and lies. No more pretense and hypocricy. It’s time we admitted to ourselves and to each other that we do not have it all together. Can we admit that we are just sinners who are in desperate need of God’s grace?