Matthew 20:25-28 “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”
I Kings 3:9 “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.”
I vividly remember my first time in New York City. It was my freshman year in college, and I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of everything in Manhattan. As a small town boy, it was the grandiose in every way.
During that trip, I met several very nice gentlemen who always seemed to want to sell me strangely inexpensive watches. The ones that particularly caught my eye were the ones with Gucci emblazoned on the face for only $15 – what a steal!
These watches looked real and they worked like they were real. My friends explained the truth of these watches, but I came up with a brilliant plan. I bought one for my younger brother and gave it to him for Christmas. To add to the mystique of the gift, I went to an actual Gucci store and bought a real watch box, which ended up being slightly more expensive than my timepiece purchased on the streets of Manhattan. My brother and my parents were amazed at my generosity. For years, my brother only brought out his new watch on special occasions, and he treasured this extravagant gift from his beloved sibling.
Several years later, as his gift for graduating from high school, I bought him the exact same watch, but from a real Gucci store. He was confused – why would I get him another watch when his still worked perfectly? That’s when I told him that in spite of the well adorned façade, the original was a fake and this one was real.
Life is full of fakes. Sometimes they are obvious, and sometimes they are not. Sometimes they are counter-cultural and sometimes they are based on the prevailing pressure of society. Either way, God calls for our judgments to be filled with understanding and discernment to sort out the real from the fake.
PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO REVEAL THE FAKES AND DISCERN THE GENUINE ARTICLES IN A SOCIETY ENGULFED IN CONFUSION. Just because it seems to work for a while doesn’t mean that it is real and authentic.
