Playing Pretend

As a little boy I remember using all of my mom aluminum foil to wrap plates and sticks so I had a sword and shield to fend off the dragons in our yard. Today, my daughters have an entire drawer dedicated to dress-up clothes. As a little girl, Abby did a dress up tea party that I came home for lunch to attend. It was amazing to wear a crown and pink feather boa and drink tea from little cups. We laughed and had a great time, but it was only pretend.

We like to pretend a lot. Many of us would like to stay in pretend mode because the reality of life is hard. But when it comes to being a Christian, we can't pretend that. It is time to stop pretending and start being.

Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer." Matthew 23:1-3

This is where many of are. We talk a good talk, but we don't live it out. It is either out of fear of rejection or embarrassment or something else that we don't live it out in front of people. Usually I want people to like me, and I don't want to offend them with my faith. But seriously, those are excuses that I tell myself to make myself feel better.

Check out this from James 1.22-25:

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear. Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God--the free life!--even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

We need to stop pretending to be what we are not. It is time to stand up for God and be His follower no matter what the cost to us. Let's quit playing pretend church and start being the church. Let's start living what we believe. Imagine how different life would be if we lived what we believed.