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Several years ago, I remember buying Michael Kors bags for my girlfriend at the time. I don’t remember if it was her birthday, a holiday, or if I had messed up and was trying to shower her with gifts — I don’t recall why I was buying the bags, but if I had to guess, it was probably because I had screwed up in some way.
I remember reaching out to someone and they told me that they sold designer bags. I was thinking, “Oh wow! They will probably give me a discount” — because I knew the person. I was able to buy two designer bags for just $200. As I was getting the bags, I knew in the back of my mind that they seemed to be too cheap.
Is it possible for me to purchase the same bag that Kim Kardashian has for $200 out the back of someone’s trunk? Everything about the situation told me that the bags were fake, but my mind and my bank account refused to accept the truth.
I remember the look on my girlfriend’s face when I gave her the bags. She had the biggest smile that I had ever seen. But moments after examining the bags, it seemed as though her smile began to fade away, like my hair line after graduating high school.
Suddenly, the moment I had been dreading was here and she asked the infamous question: “Where did you get these bags from?” It wasn’t long before I realized that I was sold fake designer bags.
The interesting thing about coming to Christ is that the first thing you learn about is Jesus being tortured and nailed to the cross. My brain can’t fathom the pain that He must have endured. Growing up, I never understood how Jesus came from heaven, was tortured, humiliated and nailed to a cross and yet doesn’t expect anything out of me.
"Whoever says he abides in Him ought [as a personal debt] to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself." - 1 John 2:6 AMPC
"And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory." - Romans 8:17 AMPC
"Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." - Matthew 16:24 AMPC
The sad reality is that we have turned Christianity into a fake designer bag. As long as someone doesn’t examine us too closely, it looks like we all have relationships with God. However, just like my girlfriend who examined her designer purses, if we take a closer look, we can tell the difference between a real one and a counterfeit.
"The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." - Matthew 13:38-42 AMPC
What I’ve realized is that the majority of Christians spend their time praying for peace, love, and joy - which are actually supposed to be evidence of your walk with Christ. The thing is, deep down we know that there is probably more required of us, but just like me after purchasing that fake designer bag, our minds and our egos won’t allow us to look at reality.
"For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, And will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths andman-made fictions. As for you, be calm and cool and steady, accept and suffer unflinchingly every hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fully perform all the duties of your ministry." - 2 Timothy 4:3-5 AMPC
How can we examine the actual lives of the followers of Christ in the Bible and think that we are following the same Jesus they preached about and followed?
"who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens. Women received their dead by a resurrection: and others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth." - Hebrews 11:33-38 AMPC
The question of the day is: Do you think God knows the difference between a real follower of Christ and a fake one?
Second question of the day: Has your walk with Christ really cost you anything? If it hasn't, are you walking around with a knock-off faith?