Nice By Sharon Hodde MillerSample

Day Three

Spiritual Adornments

Scripture: Isaiah 29:13

Many of us approach the Christian life in the same way we decorate a live Christmas tree, by piling on pleasing spiritual adornments. We dress up our lives with church commitments, community service, spiritual language, a clean-cut family, and an upbeat attitude. All of these things look so great—so Christian, so nice—while obscuring what is really going on underneath. Beneath all the spiritual glitz, we can exist cut off from our root system, without detection. We can appear to be thriving, even though we are disconnected from the vine. 

It’s easy to pull off this illusion because we can maintain the appearance of flourishing long after we have uprooted our souls. My neighbor once tossed her Christmas tree into the woods in her backyard, and it was weeks before the tree showed any sign of decay. Weeks! The human soul is like that. Our spiritual decay can take months, even years, to make itself known. We can conceal our dead spots for long periods of time, appearing healthy, vibrant, and thriving at the same time that we are dying. 

The prophet Isaiah warned the Israelites about the disconnection between their words and their hearts. Because we can’t hide our sickness forever. As radiant as a Christmas tree might appear, the decorations can’t mask the smell after awhile. And neither can we. We can only maintain the illusion for so long before reality begins to poke through. 

We might look great, our church looks great, everything seems fine. Until the day we pull back the branches and discover the sickness hiding within. Underneath all the ministry commitments, the Christian conferences, the growing churches, the bestselling books, and the uplifting social media posts, there is fear. There is pride. There is a need to control. 

The baubles that decorate brittle branches on a Christmas tree also weigh them down. The lights that obscure dehydration dry the tree out faster. Niceness does the same. Our need to be nice, our need to be liked, our commitment to the appearance of being a certain kind of Christian all become a burden to bear. Abiding in niceness instead of abiding in Christ eventually wilts our souls.

How is your motivation to be nice different than your motivation to be kind?