Appearances are deceptive, especially in this day and age. From a young age, we are taught to judge each other based on how a person’s life looks from the outside looking in. Back when I was a salesman at Bloomingdale’s, I spent months assessing customers by appearance alone. I was convinced I could successfully evaluate their wealth and ability to purchase costly wares through the type of clothes they wore, or how they carried themselves as they shopped. I quickly learned this approach was foolish. My best customers seemed to be the poorest people shopping, while the most difficult clients who made me work to the bone while barely spending any money appeared to be the wealthiest. My biggest surprise came when I realized the best clients usually started out very rude, angry, and flippant.
This experience taught me a good lesson about life on planet Earth. Our existence here is a brutal one. Those of us who are blessed with abundant material or spiritual wealth are targeted and vulnerable to many forms of abuse and deception. Greed is real and our world is filled with individuals in lack who dream of schemes to take from those who are abundant. Those who are wealthy must stay guarded and prepared for war every moment of every day. The wicked never stop plotting and scheming on those who they believe they can steal from. Therefore, the wealthy and abundant must always stand guard over all they have earned. The moment they let their guard down is surely the time they will fall victim to the wolves on the prowl masquerading as sheep. The day they lose vigilance is the day the snake hiding in the bush will strike.
I realized the rudest customers who would refuse to say hello or even look me in the eye when I greeted them were the best. They were rude and avoidant because they had fallen victim to a slick salesman in the past who ripped them off. These were the type of customers who can’t say no, who open their wallets and spend freely when presented with a good deal or special item. These were people who needed a massive external shield because their internal defenses were non-existent. They were sitting on a massive hidden treasure that didn’t have a vault or any other form of security. They had to be rude, nasty even. They walked through the store with scowls on their faces. They refused to make eye contact with anyone. Their automatic response to any type of greeting was unbridled anger. They were mad they had to shop for their needs while knowing they couldn’t defend their wealth from salespeople looking to fleece them of every penny. My best client relationships started with me getting verbally abused by these types of customers. Since I was a knowledgeable and honest salesperson, a successful transaction with a customer like this would lead to a long-term relationship. I became their protector, the person they skipped through the entire store just to connect with me.
Outside appearances are usually a result of a person’s pain in life. Those of us who have fallen victim to being targeted for our hard-earned wealth tend to dress down and appear to lack wealth. Those who can’t survive without attaining another’s wealth tend to look flashy and wealthy, attempting to lure in a new victim. Those who are spiritually abundant usually embody the Bible verse, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Providing strangers with wisdom is a dangerous endeavor. Those who lack abundance spiritually will always target the wise to take what they have to offer so they can hurt them with it. This is a brutal world we live in.
All of this has taught me to live in the moment. I don’t worry about tomorrow because nothing is guaranteed. James 4:13-15 says it well, “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” I am fully aware of my fate as one with wisdom and spiritual abundance. I will always be hunted and subjected to endless plots and schemes by those in spiritual lack. They will never stop attempting to pry and steal any little bit of wisdom or spiritual knowledge I possess. Unlike the rude and nasty customers who lacked basic defenses for their wealth, I possess a labyrinth of defense for the spiritual wealth I’ve earned. I’ve learned to share the basics while keeping the true treasure hidden from swine. From the outside, most would view me as lacking what they perceive is spiritual awareness. My pearls are hidden because we live in a brutal world. I know very well I am not guaranteed a prosperous tomorrow. Death can come to take me at any moment.
Our victories must always stay hidden lest we be robbed and left barren on the day of judgement. All that should matter for those who have abundance is what is hidden. Who we truly are and our relationship with God must stay within. The world can never really know what we have hidden in our vaults, spiritually or physically. We must stay faithful and satisfied within our own secret world. As badly as we may want to flaunt what we have, we cannot. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, nor are we guaranteed perpetual wealth of any kind. Remaining diligent while staying satisfied within our inner journey is our hard path. As badly as we may want the world to witness our victories or our wealth, life demands secrecy. It is in this secrecy that we find relief from this brutal world.
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