Knock Off Christians

I knew the Oakley sunglasses I bought for my kids in Thailand were knock-offs.  But I thought they would last longer than two days.  #Fail.Don’t you hate when that happens?One of the most valued character qualities today is authenticity or “realness.”The opposites of authentic and real include counterfeit, fake, false, hypocrite.The most common reason people give for not following Jesus is there are too many hypocrites in the church.Don’t you hate when people who call themselves Christians seem more like knock offs?The writer of Hebrews encourages us to “draw near to God with a sincere heart…”Sincere is another synonym for authentic.  It comes from Latin, sin cere, which means “without wax.”In Roman times there was a practice of making knock off pottery.  The good stuff was made fully from good clay.  But the cracks and flaws in less than perfect pieces could be fixed by filling those fissures in with wax.  When the piece was painted, you couldn’t tell there were defects.  Until you exposed it to heat and the wax melted.You wanted to make sure the pottery you purchased was genuine, authentic, sin cere.Surely we desire that those who say they follow Jesus do so authentically, sincerely.Personally, that’s my desire.Which prompts me to ask the question:  Am I the real thing, or am I a knock off Christian?In my next post I will share several areas God showed me that might have a little wax in them.What about you?  Real or knock off?C2011 Judy Douglass