Wanting the Real

I've been reading a book by B.T. Roberts, the founder of Free Methodism.  I love it when I read something that makes me stop, reread, and dwell.  

"The more valuable a currency, the more liable it is to be counterfeited.  It is so with religion - both as a whole and in all its parts."

I thought about the pure work of the Holy Spirit in a person's life.  Valuable.  Often counterfeited by the enemy and by attention seekers.  But, the counterfeit does not reduce the value of the genuine.  We need the Spirit to move.

I thought about what the Most Important Person (Jesus) said was the most important thing, "...love God with all your heart, soul, and mind."  Fake and shallow love for God will never fool Him and it will never be a foundation for growth.  But, the fact that the imitation exists doesn't mean the real doesn't.

I thought about the role of the church.  The truth of game playing doesn't deflate the purpose that Christ has given the "called out" (church).  There is a mission to accomplish.  It's not found in our charter, our personality, or our dreams.  The mission is found within the consistent heartbeat of our Cornerstone, Jesus.  The mission is to proclaim the truth of the gospel by living it.

I thought about prayer.  

I thought about grace.

I thought about passion.

I thought about friendship. 

All can be faked and all can be real.  What is real will make us more like Christ, and what is not real will be exposed.  God is better at sorting them out than I am.  

So, there is fake money floating around and passing through our hands.  The best thing to do is to do away with all money - can you say "bon-fire?"   Or, wouldn't it be better to continue to use and appreciate the real, learning its characteristics?  We want to know the real so well that the imitation is obvious.  We want to live the real so well that the imitation is obvious. 

Wanting the Real,

Pastor Dave