Mark Affleck

The More We Say We Are AUTHENTIC The Less We Are

October 3, 2019
Spiritual Growth

The word AUTHENTICITY is being tossed around our 21st Century society like a doughy pie gone airborne in the Bronx. Everyone is looking for what’s REAL.

Marketing pushes an ARTISAN vibe to sell its products.
  
GENUINE is a moniker everyone wants to associate with but few ever meet.
  
The AUTHENTICITY “movement” has reached a fever pitch. It shows up everywhere in just about every aspect of life. But it arrives with this huge irony—what it means to be AUTHENTIC has never been more unclear.
  
Christians and God’s church are part of this movement, too. They are swimming in its swift current and taking on water as the battle for defining authenticity rages.
  
Perception of CHRISTIAN AUTHENTICITY by the general public is at an ALL-TIME LOW.
  
It’s getting very difficult to know what it means to be real.
  
The world and Christians living in it may be confused about what it means to be AUTHENTIC, but Jesus is not.
  
“Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:20
  
Jesus makes it crystal clear. We are AUTHENTIC if we bear fruit, the only sign of genuine faith because it does not lie (Luke 6:43–44).
  
Real is something you can see.
  
AUTHENTIC faith is not a transaction based on what we SAY (professing Christ) or DO (attending church or working at the soup kitchen). AUTHENTIC faith even transcends our baptism and public profession of Christ.
  
Don’t misunderstand the point here. These things are FAITH IMPERATIVES. But AUTHENTIC faith is so much deeper. AUTHENTIC Christians are TRANSFORMED. They are new souls bearing visible and tangible evidence of their transformation. You can see it and feel it.
  
They are real.
  
I ask God to help me fend off the world’s barrage of relativistic enticements and, instead, embrace his timeless truths.
  
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
  
Are you AUTHENTIC? Are there marks of authenticity in your faith that others can see?
  
“I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” John 15:9-10
  

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