The Real Deal

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

– John 4:23

For many tourists in New York City, buying a fake Rolex watch or Gucci handbag from a street vendor is as big a part of their trip as visiting the Empire State Building or taking the Staten Island Ferry. Picking up a bargain is always fun. And who knows? Your friends just might think your inexpensive bling is the real deal.

However, it turns out that buying counterfeit goods is hardly a harmless diversion. A 2021 study for the Buy Safe America Coalition reveals that imports of phony products cost U.S. retailers about $54 billion per year in lost sales. What’s more, there’s also a huge problem — particularly in low- and middle- income nations — with counterfeit pharmaceuticals containing sketchy ingredients that can kill.

There are obvious parallels between the dangers of counterfeit goods and God’s warnings about idolatry, or what we might call fake worship. When it comes to buying clothing, jewelry, auto parts, or medicine, we’re often quick to look the other way and settle for cheap imitations. The truth is that we idolize expensive luxury goods. But we’d rather avoid paying the real price for authenticity.

This comparison is no exaggeration. First, let’s consider that an idol is anyone or anything that means more to us than following God and his true ways. Likewise, idolatry means settling for the illicit rather than the real deal. For example, pleasure is one of God’s gifts that we can easily idolize. The entertainment industry’s message is that if it feels good, it’s OK to do it. Watch almost any popular TV show or movie these days and you’ll see pleasurable — but destructive — behaviors and lifestyles that God expressly condemns. Since society no longer shuns adultery and other long-prohibited relationships, we’re told that they’re private activities that hurt no one. But if Christ-followers dare to say otherwise, they’re likely branded as intolerant, bigoted, or narrow-minded. After all, the advocates of such progressive behaviors ask, “What does the Bible have to do with living in the 21st century?”

Quite a bit, it turns out.

In fact, the Creator’s word to us through Scripture reveals that things haven’t changed much over the years when it comes to illicit relationships and the destruction they render. Just as our ancestors did centuries before us, we’ll often look the other way to accept and justify our behaviors and those we fear to offend. Meanwhile, we might also claim that we want God in our lives. But we actually want him to share the throne of our heart with what’s cheap, gaudy, and second-rate.

This approach is totally unacceptable to our Maker. After all, he holds a jealous love for his children. And he also wants only the very best for us. So, what should be our response? To fully acknowledge his love, we must simply turn away from our false idols — those things, attitudes, behaviors, or people — that hold us back from worshiping him. It’s when we finally change our priorities and focus on God that we’ll find true pleasure — one that’s both lasting and the real deal.

 

The Pride Before the Fall

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 

– 2 Corinthians 3: 4-5

According to Proverbs 16:18, “Pride comes before disaster, and arrogance before a fall.” And that's certainly true for individuals and organizations alike. For example, you're probably familiar with Microsoft Word, the popular word-processing software found on millions of personal computers and other devices around the world. But what about WordPerfect? 

Back in the 1980s and early ‘90s, it was the dominant word processer until Microsoft introduced its game-changing Windows 95 operating system. WordPerfect, which operated on the old DOS operating system, suddenly became obsolete. And although subsequent Windows-based versions of the software were released, there were compatibility issues. Microsoft Word eventually overthrew the once-invincible WordPerfect. And in 1996, Norvell — the owner — sold it for just 10% of what it had paid just two years earlier.

The resulting multi-million-dollar loss was, to say the least, a disturbing reality check for Norvell. Arguably, its management of WordPerfect and the employees who created it represent a textbook example of corporate pride and arrogance. Likewise, Christ-followers must never forget that pride and hubris can also cripple and destroy when they're overlooked.

At pride’s root is our love of the world’s values rather than our devotion to God. And pride happens to be a disease with some nasty side effects. One symptom is far-sightedness. That’s because we tend to see it in others but not in ourselves. Our heads then grow, and our minds shrink. And eventually, we reach the point where we think we’re strong and smart enough to do it all — all while forgetting that God is the only true power and source of our successes. We become arrogant, vain, stubborn, and defensive. And we may even develop a strange sense of satisfaction when others, often our closest friends, face difficulties or tragedies in their lives.

These painful symptoms can last for days or even years. But we’ll eventually reach the point where God lets us crumble and fall flat after some unforeseen situation or circumstance. It’s the pride before the fall. And it’s only when we’re struggling helplessly in the debris that we finally regain our senses and return to our Creator.

Like the common cold, we’re all bound to catch the pride bug occasionally. So, what’s the best way to battle the illness once it has set in? First, the remedy doesn’t call for adopting an artificially low self-esteem or a terminal woe-is-me attitude. Instead, we’ll heal by replacing deceptive self-confidence with reliable Christ-confidence. And the prescription is to always put God first in our lives and remember that we can do nothing without him. We should always give him the credit for our blessings and successes, and focus on helping others through their struggles. Moreover, we must understand that God chooses and uses humble people to do great things in the world. 

The Bible sums it all up with some solid advice: 

"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."

Ambassadors of Light

My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don't do anything to show that you really do have faith? Can that kind of faith save you?

– James 2:14

It’s in dark, troubling times like these that we most need to remember Jesus’ admonition to some of his earliest followers — those who daily faced much more than unkind words, unflattering social media posts or slanderous motion pictures:

“Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven.”

What does Jesus mean by light? Maybe one way to think of it is that “spark” or inner power that God grants each Believer for demonstrating his goodness through their words and deeds. It might be helping an elderly neighbor by running a much-needed errand or volunteering to manage a co-worker’s project when they’re struggling to finish an earlier assignment. Or it might even involve cleaning up a community park or visiting residents at a local assisted living center. The possibilities are endless.

Ultimately, our mission as Christ-followers is to be Jesus’ ambassadors to our neighbors both near and far while we wait for his return — or that day when he calls us back home (whichever comes first). And until then, we’re to help prepare God’s kingdom by using the various gifts and talents he’s given us to make the world a better place. It’s in Matthew’s gospel that we find our Savior’s example:

“In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people."

Since we’re ambassadors of light, it’s not about us. Instead, it’s about him and his creation. So as Christ-followers, let’s turn our faith into action by accepting Jesus’ invitation to help brighten a dark, dying world that’s so much in need of his guidance, truth, and love. 

Lawn & Garden

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

– John 15:5

Recorded during times when the livelihood of most people involved agriculture, the Bible is full of references to the planting, harvesting and storage of crops. The crowds that followed Jesus from village to village were certainly familiar with the imagery of fruitfulness in his parable called The Sower. They knew a thing or two about cultivation. After all, their ability to grow a thriving crop each year could mean the difference between hunger and having plenty. 

A related theme in the Bible is that of mankind’s need for a thriving relationship with its Creator. Without him, nothing — spiritual or physical — can grow.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener,” Jesus tells us through John’s gospel. “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Christ then added this caution:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

Summer is almost here, and folks are flocking to lawn and garden centers to buy the tools, fertilizers and other supplies to make their gardens thrive. They know that with enough time and effort, the harvest can be both remarkable and satisfying.   

The same goes for cultivating our spiritual lives, which also takes time and effort. But unlike a plot of vegetables that eventually withers and dies with the first frosts of autumn, spirit-filled lives rooted in a solid relationship with God will thrive and produce much fruit — and all with eternal benefits. 

Are you cultivating a fruitful, personal relationship with your Creator — and are you helping others do the same? Work awaits us in the fields. So, as we gather our spiritual gardening tools for the task at hand, let’s be sure to consider these familiar words of Jesus from Matthew’s gospel: 

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”

Call of Duty

Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

– Isaiah 1:17

A vital part of the human experience involves situations that call us to do the right thing — even if it could be costly, unpopular, uncomfortable, or inconvenient. A few years ago, for example, a judge in western Pennsylvania decided to spend the day in the county courthouse. While that sounds like it should have been business as usual for her, Judge Linda Fleming happened to join 119 of her fellow citizens who had also reported for jury duty. In the end, she wasn't seated as a juror because an attorney objected to her presence in that capacity. Nevertheless, Judge Fleming was determined to do her civic duty and serve, or at least make herself available, rather than use her position as an excuse to avoid it.

Doing the right thing isn't just the right thing to do, it's also a biblical principle. As James 4:17 puts it, "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."

There are times when doing the right thing takes courage. We might never face a powerful enemy on the battlefield, but we might take on different kinds of opponents — like injustice, crime, or discrimination — that we have no hope of defeating on our own. The good news for Christ-followers is that we're called by our Creator to be strong and brave. And we're not alone with what might threaten us. In fact, we can be encouraged by all the average people like you and me that God has empowered to do the extraordinary against overwhelming odds.

A familiar example involves David — then an obscure shepherd-boy — who defended his nation by killing the giant Goliath with a single stone from his slingshot. And it was this same shepherd-boy who eventually became King of Israel and the one God called "a man after My own heart." Likewise, the apostle Peter literally dove into the deep end when he accepted Jesus' call to walk on water. After he began to doubt his circumstances, Peter also began to sink. But Jesus saved him once the struggling follower called out in faith. This same follower — who would eventually deny Jesus to others three times — later became a bold preacher of what the book of Acts described as The Way (the Good News about his Savior, Jesus Christ). Two books of the New Testament also bear Peter's name.

As Christ-followers, we can take heart. It might be a scary world out there, but God doesn't expect us to solve all the world's problems. Instead, it's by seeking and using his power in faith that we can make a world of difference. And it all starts when we do the right thing and respond to our call of duty.