How fake are you?

Saturday I had the opportunity to minister to families in Bluefield, WV through a partnership our church has with a church in that community. As always, I enjoyed talking with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. As lunch was wrapping up, I stood in the kitchen area talking to two of the men that serve in that church. As we talked we jumped to various topics like work, sports, and family. Then as the topic changed to faith one of the men made an interesting comment. He made a comment (my paraphrase) about how people think that Christians are supposed to be uptight and stuffy people and made the motions with his hand as if he were tightening a tie around his neck. We continued our conversation about how it did no good to be fake with people and how those outside of the faith only benefit from Christians being real with them.

Being fake is nothing new to the Christian faith. Peter faked not knowing Jesus as He was being tried and since the earliest days of the church we've seen believers putting on masks. Don't believe me? When was the last time your pastor or someone at church asked you on a Sunday morning "How are you?" and you answered honestly? Now we all have problems and issues we'd rather not air to the public but there is a difference between being fake and keeping things private. When the world sees us are they seeing someone who pretends to have it all together or someone willing to admit their struggles.

I am borrowing from the Casting Crowns song here but our world can see past the "Stained Glass Masquerade" that most Christians put on. They see what we are like outside of church, away from our Christian friends, and when its just us or our family. We aren't fooling anyone, other than maybe ourselves. What the world needs is authenticity. They need honesty. They need Christians to put down the masks and quit pretending to be something that they're not. They need to see people who have struggled with the same issues as them and triumphed because of the One they follow. They need to see people willing to admit their shortcomings and, yes, even their sins, so they can hear about the forgiveness offered by God. When we are real with the world around us that does not know Christ, it gives them a glimpse of Him. Hopefully our authenticity will help lead them into a relationship with Him. So the real question today is maybe not "How fake are you?" but instead "How real are you?"


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