Internal, External, or Fake
God showed me something by allowing me to observe some instances of human behavior, and how relative certain aspects can be to our faith. Ultimately, I've found three areas that need room for improvement in many of us that call ourselves Christians. They are related to being internal, external, or fake.
Internal:
The internal person is one who works very hard at building himself internally, but greatly neglects his/her external needs. This person can also be referred to as an introvert. Academically, the person may be one of the most well studied persons, but they are terrible socially and often end up causing more offense or discomfort to others than benefit. This is NOT intentional, however, but rather an instance where the person just doesn't know how to deal with people. In the church, this becomes a handicap because it causes a counterproductive situation in "reaching the lost" or helping those who aren't as studied to grow. The internal person will spend tons of time in his/her "bubble" educating himself, but lose the patience and love needed to truly teach and reach others, because of a lack of social courtesy, patience, and connectivity with those who don't agree or cannot understand his/her own zeal. A scriptural example was of the Pharisees that Yeshua rebuked saying that they follow the law down to the extremity of tithing the smallest herbs, but forget the weightier matters such as mercy and love. However, this lack of sensitivity often is truly, not out of aught or spite, but in truth they often just don't have it, understand it, or know how to provide it.
External:
The external person, on the opposite side of the coin, is so concerned with his/her outside appearance that he/she neglects the building of the inner person. This person may be referred to as an extrovert. Academically, the person may be the most popular "kid in school" and great at networking, but he/she lacks the basic foundations of education required to maintain value outside of the social scene. In the church, this becomes counterproductive, because though the external person can appeal to the emotions and excitement of the crowd, he/she has nothing to offer (very little scriptural or practical foundation) when the original "high" has passed. In times of true or deeper conflict, when a powerful, Biblically based word is needed, rather than being able to help, or even knowing how, he/she can only respond by avoiding the question or saying that he/she will pray for them despite there being some Biblically founded solutions already available to solve the situations. A real-life example of this is found with so many of the modern money centered sermons that are always saying that "something is about to happen" simply to get the people to give, but that are then unable to answer why nothing is happening for the people once they start questioning.
Fake
The fake person, is simply, fake. This person says what he/she feels the person he/she is trying to impress wants to hear. They put on the appearances of being loving, sincere, humble, but then in the midst of the same conversations where they are "blessing someone" and declaring their own humility and sincerity, you see them also viciously attacking or being rude, but trying to do it in an indirect way to make it appear as though this is not really what they are doing. These are the type of people who are also referred to as hypocrits. You may see them in the church praising louder than anyone, but then in the store going off on someone. You may often find them justifying their mistakes but being insultive or cruel to others for their mistakes. The fake person also never wants to admit that he/she may actually be wrong, and often in fact, is so arrogant, that he/she never actually believes it to be possible to be wrong... unless it is pointed out by the person(s) that he/she most admires.
Balance:
The balance in the church for the introverts and extroverts is two-fold. First, these two types of persons are strong in those particular areas, so if they work together as a team, a complete package is created. This can be done where the external person is responsible for bringing in the lost while the internal person educates them. The external person deals with the motivation and the internal person deals with the strengthening. As long as this is done with each type respectfully addressing the other, there can be great fruit achieved. The other side is simply that each recognizes his/her weakness and works on that area while continuing to do his/her original strength, just as Yeshua advised in the above mentioned scripture. We must still remember though, what our strengths are for this is valuable, and have patience with those with other strengths. We are one body and every part of a body cannot have the same function or strengths, but when all are combined and working together instead of against one another trying to turn the others into themselves, true power in the body of Christ can result. The simple balance for the fake person is to learn humility and be real about who he/she really is so that the real person, if necessary can actually expose and change the issues where change is needed. Instead of pretending to be so loving when not, pretending to bless when indirectly cursing, he/she should "be real" about the situation so that it can be aired out and healed, for a wound needs air to heal, lest it get infected.
By the grace of God,
Kelvin
Internal:
The internal person is one who works very hard at building himself internally, but greatly neglects his/her external needs. This person can also be referred to as an introvert. Academically, the person may be one of the most well studied persons, but they are terrible socially and often end up causing more offense or discomfort to others than benefit. This is NOT intentional, however, but rather an instance where the person just doesn't know how to deal with people. In the church, this becomes a handicap because it causes a counterproductive situation in "reaching the lost" or helping those who aren't as studied to grow. The internal person will spend tons of time in his/her "bubble" educating himself, but lose the patience and love needed to truly teach and reach others, because of a lack of social courtesy, patience, and connectivity with those who don't agree or cannot understand his/her own zeal. A scriptural example was of the Pharisees that Yeshua rebuked saying that they follow the law down to the extremity of tithing the smallest herbs, but forget the weightier matters such as mercy and love. However, this lack of sensitivity often is truly, not out of aught or spite, but in truth they often just don't have it, understand it, or know how to provide it.
External:
The external person, on the opposite side of the coin, is so concerned with his/her outside appearance that he/she neglects the building of the inner person. This person may be referred to as an extrovert. Academically, the person may be the most popular "kid in school" and great at networking, but he/she lacks the basic foundations of education required to maintain value outside of the social scene. In the church, this becomes counterproductive, because though the external person can appeal to the emotions and excitement of the crowd, he/she has nothing to offer (very little scriptural or practical foundation) when the original "high" has passed. In times of true or deeper conflict, when a powerful, Biblically based word is needed, rather than being able to help, or even knowing how, he/she can only respond by avoiding the question or saying that he/she will pray for them despite there being some Biblically founded solutions already available to solve the situations. A real-life example of this is found with so many of the modern money centered sermons that are always saying that "something is about to happen" simply to get the people to give, but that are then unable to answer why nothing is happening for the people once they start questioning.
Fake
The fake person, is simply, fake. This person says what he/she feels the person he/she is trying to impress wants to hear. They put on the appearances of being loving, sincere, humble, but then in the midst of the same conversations where they are "blessing someone" and declaring their own humility and sincerity, you see them also viciously attacking or being rude, but trying to do it in an indirect way to make it appear as though this is not really what they are doing. These are the type of people who are also referred to as hypocrits. You may see them in the church praising louder than anyone, but then in the store going off on someone. You may often find them justifying their mistakes but being insultive or cruel to others for their mistakes. The fake person also never wants to admit that he/she may actually be wrong, and often in fact, is so arrogant, that he/she never actually believes it to be possible to be wrong... unless it is pointed out by the person(s) that he/she most admires.
Balance:
The balance in the church for the introverts and extroverts is two-fold. First, these two types of persons are strong in those particular areas, so if they work together as a team, a complete package is created. This can be done where the external person is responsible for bringing in the lost while the internal person educates them. The external person deals with the motivation and the internal person deals with the strengthening. As long as this is done with each type respectfully addressing the other, there can be great fruit achieved. The other side is simply that each recognizes his/her weakness and works on that area while continuing to do his/her original strength, just as Yeshua advised in the above mentioned scripture. We must still remember though, what our strengths are for this is valuable, and have patience with those with other strengths. We are one body and every part of a body cannot have the same function or strengths, but when all are combined and working together instead of against one another trying to turn the others into themselves, true power in the body of Christ can result. The simple balance for the fake person is to learn humility and be real about who he/she really is so that the real person, if necessary can actually expose and change the issues where change is needed. Instead of pretending to be so loving when not, pretending to bless when indirectly cursing, he/she should "be real" about the situation so that it can be aired out and healed, for a wound needs air to heal, lest it get infected.
By the grace of God,
Kelvin
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