Ideas

Get Real

I recently allowed myself to be talked into attending a dinner theater that featured a "murder mystery." Diners, we were told, would be drawn into the cast and challenged to identify the guilty party from among the host of suspicious characters. The latter doubled as the wait staff. The service was painfully slow, but after the first course it was hard to generate much anticipation for the entree anyway. It was the acting, however, that made the evening seem interminable. The real mystery was how any of us made it to the third act-or the dessert course.

The play's characterizations were shallow. The paid cast must have faked their acting credentials. The diners shanghaied into minor roles were good sports, but their performances were less convincing than rainy-day charades at summer camp. The most useful adjective is fake. We were all fakes-chef, actors, and amateurs alike.

Ironically, a diner drafted to play "Pastor Jake" was in real life a pastor. The maitre d', who was also the stage director, selected him because of all the men in the room he thought him "to look least like a clergyman." So in this comedy of errors, even the genuine seemed counterfeit.

CRAVING THE REAL THING

On the drive home, I pondered how loudly the evening had cried out for integrity. If only there had been a few believable moments, moments with the ring of authenticity, the night might not have been such a disappointment. Just a grain or two of genuineness would have met the need.

Life is like that. We crave the "real thing." We rebel at the fake and the false, especially in matters of faith.

Jesus was always searching for genuine faith. When the Roman centurion requested his servant's healing, even from afar, Jesus expressed profound delight in the authenticity of his faith. Matthew tells us that Jesus marveled and rejoiced over the officer's sincerity and integrity. If this is what stirs the Lord's heart, I want to be someone similarly marked by genuine trust and obedience.

Some years ago Hollywood made a folk hero of a man dubbed "The Great Impostor." In the real life that inspired the film, the impostor, though unqualified, assumed the roles of physician, college professor, priest, military officer, and diplomat. Eventually he even posed as a Baptist preacher and pastored in the Pacific Northwest. But his undoing was his inability to give evidence of authentic spiritual life. He found it harder to be an impostor in faith than in medicine or academics. Only true faith can stand such tests.

THE SMELL OF THE GENUINE

Only by firsthand experience with the authentic can we distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit. I used to work as a cashier, handling large sums of currency quickly and accurately. My supervisor wanted to be confident that I was not an easy prey for crooks seeking to pass counterfeit bills. He had me prepare by studying, touching, smelling, and even learning to "listen" to genuine currency. It worked. I knew and could recognize the genuine and the counterfeit.

I am grateful to be in the midst of genuine people of God almost daily. When we encounter a woman or a man with spiritual integrity we are enriched, expanded, nurtured, and admonished, all at the same time. Such people of faith fortify us against the many counterfeit expressions of piety we may be tempted to embrace.

Even more, we need to seek the situations that call forth genuineness in ourselves: small groups in which religious posturing is discouraged and honest struggling welcomed; service opportunities in which we lose our awareness of how we are coming across because of our eagerness to help others; and spiritual mentoring partnerships in which a discerning older Christian can hold us accountable.

The only thing worse than bad acting in a dinner theater is bad acting in the household of faith.

Copyright © 1994 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Cover Story

Re-engineering the Seminary?

Bringing the Poor to the Polls

NORTH AMERICAN SCENE: Church Refuses to Vacate Building

President, Quayle Tout Values Theme

Ministers Decry 'Censorship'

Finance Agency Faces $500,000 Suit

Camping Misses End of World

Is Word-Faith Movement Out on a Limb

State's Religious Ed Questioned in Nicaragua

Haitian Relief Teams Prepare to Return

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Korean Presbyterian Church Refuses to Vacate Building

Tunnel Mystery Unearthed

Survey Questions Protestant Figures

Gridiron Star Tackles Urban Inner City Problems

BOOKS: Getting to Yes

BOOKS: Worth Mentioning

Whose Feminism?

PHILIP YANCEY: The Power of Writing

PHILIP YANCEY: The Power of Writing

ARTICLE: Shouting Heresy in the Temple of Darwin

News

Teaching Manhood in the Urban Jungle

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News Briefs: October 24, 1994

Wire Story

Clinton Intervenes in RFRA Test Case

Wire Story

Prolifers Arrested in Cairo

Back from Bulgaria

Editorial

EDITORIAL: Cairo’s Wake-up Call

Editorial

EDITORIAL: Take Us Out of the Ball Game

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News Briefs: October 24, 1994

ARTICLE: The Good Capitalist

ARTICLE: Why They Helped the Jews

ARTICLE: The Translator’s Tale

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from October 24, 1994

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Letting the Boat Out of the Bag

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Is Laughing for the Lord Holy?

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