Wanna-be

A long time ago, just for fun, I bought a gaudy gold ring that was inset with diamonds. I paid just $19 for it. No, it wasn't 'hot.' (stolen) It wasn't real gold! The ‘diamonds’ chips of glass! But hey -- from 6 or 8 feet away, who could tell? It looks like the real thing, from a distance. Up close, the fact that it is a fake is obvious even to the untrained eye. There are plenty of imitations in our world. You can buy a pint of imitation vanillin flavor for the same price as a couple of ounces of real vanilla extract- but there is no comparing the flavor difference. You can buy an imitation Rolex watch on the streets of New York City for a few dollars, but a real one will cost several thousands.

I love real people. OK, perhaps you're scratching your head wondering, "What other kind are there? Fake people?" Yes, the world is filled with people who are just shells, images without substance, pretenders who work at hiding their true selves behind titles and tales; suits and surgeries. My heart breaks for these sad souls who have to work so hard to be somebody they are not, in vain attempts to gain the approval of people they don't even like.
Real people have integrity. They have worked at accepting themselves for who they are and are 'at home' in their own skin. They don't need to prove anything, play a role, or have rhinoplasty. (Look it up!) Real people know that they are not defined by the kind of car they drive or their job title. Real people can be difficult because they are so resistant to the games that people play. You can't manipulate a real person because she is not responsive to peer pressure. Then, too, real people live and tell the truth which makes some of us very uncomfortable. They won't pretend to see the Emperor's new clothes, they just acknowledge that he's naked!

(If you don't know that story you can read it at http://hca.gilead.org.il/emperor.html)
Being authentic is important for Christ’s followers! To be inauthentic is to be a hypocrite. That sin was the one which Jesus condemned more harshly than any other! When He interacted with the Pharisees, were experts in looking good while doing bad, He did not spare their feelings. Take a look at Jesus' outrage at these pious frauds.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things." (Matthew 23:23-4, NLT)
"You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity." (Matthew 23:26-27, NLT)
Can you feel the indignation? We need to make that personal, asking ourselves if we have allowed ourselves to be ‘wanna-be’ Christians, better at pretending than being! Just reading those words makes me shudder!

Maybe you’re thinking- 'but if people really know me, they won't like me.' Mostly that is true if we do not like ourselves! If we believe that we are too fat, too thin, too dumb, too ugly, too shy, too tall, too short, too poor, too damaged – we will react to even imagined criticism with a defense, pushing people away, or demanding our own way too loudly! It’s great to be around a person at home in his own skin.

Perhaps you believe that you have be ‘just like _____________’ (you fill the name of some admired Christian) in order to be valuable to God, so you’re trying hard to become that person. The Bible is clear that you are a person God made to fill a specific place in this world. Nobody can be you and you cannot successfully become somebody else! Yes, extracting the pure gold from the ore can be a task. It requires supernatural work of the Spirit of God to be rid of the junk that obscures the ‘real me.’ However, if we refuse to let Him work on us, and choose inside to pretend, to fake it; we sin against Him. When we deal with the hurt, pain, failure, and disobedience not by covering it up, but rather by owning it and taking it to the Cross, the Christ who forgives also restores hope, and gives healing. There is no greater source of security than knowing we are God’s beloved, with a divine purpose to fulfill right where we are!

Are you a fake?
Let God love you to reality. He knows the ‘real’ you so why not admit who you are to Him, and then to yourself?

Real is a beautiful thing – truly!

________________

Heavenly Father, I need You to help me
to be content with my place, my work, my personality.
I feel pressure to be someone else, to look better than I actually am.
That pressure comes from those around me and
the little voice of insecurity inside of me.

Speak Your affirming love to me.
Help not to settle into my dysfunction, nor to love my sin.
Lead me to be a real disciple,
at peace with You through Christ Jesus,
honest to God, honest to Man!

Make me all that You have designed me to be,
in the garden where You have planted me.

For Your honor and glory, I pray,
In Jesus’ holy Name. Amen.