Packaging vs. Content: Why Experience Is the Best Teacher

Most things can be misleading because of their packaging. Beautiful packaging can hide terrible content,
and unpleasant packaging can contain something beautiful.

Many of us can agree that what we see on the outside- the packaging- can sometimes be very different from what's inside. Our mistakes in life often stem from accepting things at face value and foolishly believing that appearances accurately represent what's inside. Unfortunately, we live in a world where honesty has been replaced with dishonesty. Experience has taught us a valuable lesson: look before we leap.

Please remember, not everything that glitters is gold.

Carefully examine anything that seems like a fresh start: a great deal, a new relationship, a job offer, or anything else. Your responsibility is to do thorough research, ask questions, and focus on substance rather than appearance. In the end, you'll have to deal with the substance, not the temporary, attractive packaging.

Beware of Sheep's Clothing

Jesus warned His disciples that deceptive packaging is not a modern problem. It has always existed:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" (Matthew 7:15-16)

Jesus gave us a principle that, if followed, will allow us to recognize content over packaging: fruit does not lie. The fruit of anything is a telltale sign not only of its contents, but of what actually produced it. An apple can only come from an apple tree. The fruit is simply the evidence of what tree produced it, regardless of how the tree was decorated.

The Lord Looks at the Heart

Man judges by packaging because packaging is all man can see at first glance. God does not operate that way:

"For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

This is the discernment we are called to grow into. It is unnatural to look past a beautiful package and ask what is actually inside it. Our flesh wants to trust what looks good. But if God judges by the heart and not the wrapping, then the mature believer must learn to do the same, in relationships, in opportunities, and in the people we let close to us.

Why Experience Teaches What Warnings Cannot

I don't know who you are, but you must understand this. Your decision to follow the packaging will force you to deal with unnecessary content. Unfortunately, most folks tolerate the undesired content, hoping they'll be exposed to the packaging again rather than the truth they already uncovered.

Warnings can inform you, but experience is what convinces you. This is why the same mistake often has to cost us something before we finally believe it was a mistake. Scripture describes this pattern plainly:

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Proverbs 14:12)

"The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going." (Proverbs 14:15)

Notice that the prudent man is not smarter than the simple man by nature. He simply looks well to his going. He has learned, likely through experience, to slow down and examine before he commits. That skill is rarely taught in a lecture. It is usually earned through a disappointment we did not see coming.

My mother repeatedly told me, "A little can tell you what a lot will be like." A small sample of someone's character, a small inconsistency in someone's story, a small red flag in an opportunity, is rarely isolated. It is usually a preview, not an exception.

Test the Fruit, Not the Wrapper

Scripture instructs us not to accept everything simply because it looks or sounds good:

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Proving something takes time, patience, and observation. It means watching what a person, opportunity, or relationship consistently produces over time, rather than what it promises in the moment. Packaging is a snapshot. Fruit is a pattern. A pattern cannot be faked forever.

My words of wisdom to you on this beautiful morning: focus on the fruit produced by that person, place, or thing. Fruit is the result of a seed. What someone consistently produces reveals who they really are and warns you that their packaging is a mere distraction from their contents.

Experience will always be one of the best teachers you'll ever have. The only choice you have is whether you learn its lessons the easy way, through Scripture and the wisdom of others who paid the price before you, or the hard way, by unwrapping the package yourself.

~Kevin L A Ewing~
ewinglakevin@icloud.com
kevinlaewing.blogspot.com
www.kevinlaewing.com

The Purpose Of Experience

Today we will talk briefly about the word experience, and it is our intent to dig for the revelation of this word in relationship to how God wants us to view it. Firstly, every experience that will ever take place in our lives has been predetermined by God himself. The sole purpose of that experience was to make us better at making future decisions and instruct and counsel others correctly.

Now, the catch would be one must learn from each experience. If not, sooner or later, the experience will repeat itself. You see, the experience is a lesson within itself, and again for the sole purpose of making future decisions.

In bringing this revelation altogether, we must first recognize that we are creatures of comparison. This suggests that we always compare the decision we are about to make before deciding on a personal past experience or someone else's experience. Basically, our minds are computing second by second to make the best decision because the quality of our findings is based on our experiences.

So, each experience has embedded wisdom and understanding, whether that experience is good or bad. Hence, we are responsible for figuring out the lesson. Therefore the more knowledge we attain from our experience, the better equipped we are. We are also better able to navigate our way through life.  

The biblical proof of all that I am saying is found in the book of Proverbs, and it states, " When wisdom enters into the heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul discretion shall preserve thee. WOW!!! This is so awesome; here is the revelation; wisdom is built into every experience and understanding that can be interchangeable with knowledge. The Bible says that when this wisdom/experience is received in the heart, knowledge becomes pleasant to the soul, suggesting that you've learned the lesson of the experience.

Watch this! Discretion shall preserve thee. The word discretion means the power or right to decide or act according to one's own judgment; freedom of decision or choice. To preserve means to: keep safe from harm or injury; protect or spare.

So, (Proverbs 2:10-11) confirms the revelation concerning experience and why we must embrace the experiences afforded us. Simply put, the knowledge and wisdom attained from our experiences is conditioning us for what the will of God is for our lives. It is also grooming us mentally to be prudent in our decision-making. 

Therefore, when we resist and complain about life issues. We simultaneously imply we don't want to make better decisions going forward. Of course, this will repeat the same experiences that we are clearly not learning from. Consequently, we are bound to make poor decisions because we have disabled the process explicitly designed to give us the necessary wisdom to correctly decide or judge future events, circumstances, etc.

Written by:

KEVIN L A EWING