“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness…” (2 Timothy 3:1-5a ESV)
Unable to afford Stacey Adams shoes, real ones like cool Pew Wee Smith wore to high school, I resorted to the next best option when I got to get my annual pair of new dress shoes. I could not afford shoes like Pee Wee. He had shoes to match every outfit. He was always styling! I tried to look like I was styling by buying some imitation Stacey Adams shoes at the store downtown where every pair of shoes was $7.77 cents. What a deal, compared to $30 plus for real Stacey Adams shoes back in the day. They looked good! Well, that was until some classmate would look at my shoes and say, “Those ain’t real!” And then, to justify the statement or prove the point, the classmate would step on one of my shoes and crush the toe part of the shoe. The dent that was made was accompanied by sounds of delight. Yes, there was a tsunami of laughter by the classmate and any fellow onlookers. Embarrassed inside, on the outside I acted like it was nothing, buts as soon as possible, I went to the nearest restroom to try and push the dent out. That effort was to no avail. My imitation shoes with the dent could not be healed, helped, or hidden.
My prayer this morning has nothing to do with fake shoes; nothing to do with imitation footwear. It has to do with individuals who imitate being Christians, but when put to the test, when a criticism is made about their claims to be a believer because their conduct does not match the claim, they hear the same exact criticizing words spoken by my classmate in regard to my imitation Stacey Adams, “Those ain’t real!”
Stacey Adams shoes cost a lot of money back then. Becoming a disciple is free. Christ paid that price on Calvary. However, living as a disciple of Christ comes with a cost, if we are to be real like we should be. It may cost us our time, talents, and treasures. It may cost us friends and family members who will abandon us. It may cost you “my will” in favor of “God’s will be done.” But the costs in this case are something all of us believers can afford and should be willing and ready to pay. And when we do “pay up,” we can cancel out any accusations of being hypocritical and circumvent being in situations at any time where someone can talk about church folk’s work, words, witnessing, and willful testimonies, and declare, “Those ain’t real!” No sir! No ma’am! We are going forward today and, in the future, showing the world that we are for real! With the help of the Holy Spirit who abides in us, no one will be able to put dents in our testimony that Jesus is real and that He resides in us! Have a great Thursday! No imitations of godliness should be allowed! Be as the old secular songwriter wrote, “Baby, I’m for real!” Be blessed!
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.” (2 Corinthians 13:5-6 ESV)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King