I heard an interesting story today. Several years ago we had an abundance of
twenty dollar bills showing up in my little town that were better suited to
being used on your Monopoly game board.
Local merchants were alerted and clerks began scrutinizing all cash
purchases with extra care. The federal
government sent an agent out to assist, and when asked what a counterfeit bill
looked like, he made an interesting comment.
He said, “I don’t know.” Huh?!? He quickly followed up with, “I just know
what the genuine article looks like. I
can tell you what every number, drawing, color shade and lint piece looks like
on the real thing. I don’t study the
fakes.” That's how he could tell. He had the real thing firmly in mind for comparison.
So, do you look to the “genuine article” in your life, or
are you studying up on the fakes? Whether
it is people, relationships, or your faith, there are counterfeits out there in
abundance. Spending time learning what
the genuine article looks like is essential to avoid making some serious
mistakes in life and the hereafter as well.
How much time do you spend studying the basic tenets of your
faith and backing them up with what the entire biblical message is in its total
context. Have you studied the genuine
article, or do you just accept the counterfeits from evangelists who promise to
send you a blessed handkerchief for your donation. Do you embrace the gospel of prosperity that ministers who have
congregations of thousands preach to their followers totally out of
context? How about in your
marriage? Did you settle for that
“TrophyWife” or the “Successful Executive” only to find they lacked any true
ability to have a lasting relationship and to love you without restraint for
better or worse? Or maybe you have
looked to sex, drugs and alcohol for happiness and given away the God given
gift of your health and well being in the process.
Life is short. Look
to the genuine article. Don’t study the
fakes.
Knowing who we are spiritually and understanding that we are more than our physical bodies helps us live authentically. However, the world we live in and the physical body encasing our authentic self is powerful and deceptive. Of course, it helps to be encased in a beautiful body...it helps us get what we want....and if what we want is to please and satisy only ourselves we have to become counterfeit, we have to "quiet" the spirit within us. Living from our heart,living out our identity in Jesus and who He is keeps us from defrauding ourselves by thinking that getting what we want and desire, even at the expense of others, is paramount and brings us happiness.
ReplyDeleteLooking to the needs of others and loving them unconditionally is the real thing. But how can that be? I need to take care of myself, right? It's a tough world..I deserve to be happy and if others don't make me happy I should leave that relationship and look for someone or some thing that makes me happy. My flesh and my instincts tell me that is survival. After all, don't I deserve to "survive" and live in happiness. Ah, that's it! We choose to "survive" not "thrive".
Surviving has its roots in the physical element of us...our bodies. Thriving has its roots in our inner most being, the spiritual component of who we really are. Jesus showed us what that looks like. Why do we settle for less? I would propose because we think, live and act out of our flesh. We study the "counterfeit" because that is how the world "schools" us. The beautiful, the successful, the powerful...they are the happy ones. We are bombarded by the media in various forms, we stay in relationships that "school" us until we truly believe we are what others think we are. The partner in the relationship focuses only on the physical and making themselves happy and before we recognize this folly, their deception causes us to have a distorted view of ourselves. WE find ourselves caught in the trap of delusion. That entrapement causes us to live a "lesser" life. We quench our spirit's power. The "counterfeit" becomes so real and we truly come to live as if it is more powerful than our spirit... than our awareness of who we were really created to be. Some people slip into the counterfeiting process, some enter it with intention to defraud. Oh, how the spirit calls out to us...can we still hear it. It is never to late to look to the needs of others. Jesus said that when we refresh others, we ourselves are refreshed. Now, that is the real thing! That is true relationship! Both people living to refresh the other. No threat of abandonement because leaving is to get your own needs met. Staying close and truly living from the heart, your authentic self, brings the inexpressible joy that Jesus modeled for us. That is how relationships on earth thrive. That is the real thing!!