Everything Genuine Has a Counterfeit. Ever notice that? Some call’em, ‘knock-offs.’

• knock off Oakley sunglasses
• knock off Nike shoes
• knock off Gucci bags
• knock off Polo shirts
• knock off Rolex watches
• counterfeit money
• look alike movie stars
• fake antiques
• fake smiles
• fake friends
• fake repentence
• fake community
• fake serving

Depending on what’s being faked, the stakes can be pretty high. I don’t really mind having a cheap pair of Oakley sunglasses as long as they offer some UV protection and basically get the job done. And a polo shirt is a polo shirt as far as I am concerned—whether there is a little polo rider on it or an alligator—who cares?

Fake money? That’ll get you in trouble. That’s a no-no.

Fake smiles? I don’t even want to bother with people like that—be real for goodness sake!

Fake friends?

OUCH!

Depending on how close they got before they were exposed, this can send people into a tale spin. Some all time classics come to mind:

• Brutus
• Benedict Arnold
• And the worst of them all…Judas

I’ll bet some of these started out good—maybe even had pure intentions, but something went wrong along the way and they ended up bad. Really bad.

Brutus truly believed in the ‘Republic’ of Rome and actually did some good for a loose form of democracy that assured no ‘one man’ would have the power of a dictator. Unfortunately, he let hatred and bitterness drive him to plotting and murder. Caesar had treated him almost as a son, but even that love wasn’t strong enough to keep Brutus from revealing himself to be false.

Benedict Arnold was actually a great military commander in important battles leading up to and during the first part of the Revolutionary war. However, passed over and under-appreciated, he decided to fake his allegiance to Washington and secretly side with the British. Most today know little or nothing about the good he did before becoming a turn-coat.

Judas? Can anything good be said about Judas? Only this…he cared about his people and their independence more than anything else so he fought for it constantly. He was (some believe) a zealot (which was a highly vocal—sometimes violent advocate of revolutionary overthrow of the oppressing Roman government by any means) and his passion for the nation cause him to ‘use Jesus’ as a means to an end. So, I guess “no” — pretty much nothing good can be said about such a false and plotting individual.

So, they were sincere, but sincerely wrong. And it all seemed to go south when they determined in their hearts to become ‘fake’ in order to accomplish their goals. Once you’re fake—you’re not YOU anymore and sooner or later everything you do will be nothing more than a counterfeit of the original.

Then it’s over.

Christians need to watch out for this stuff too. God has clear cut ways for the believer to grow, love, find purpose, restore relationships, live an abundant life and more—but none of these has a short cut that works as well. You have to follow His genuine, bonified, legit prescription—period. No copy-cat short cuts. Here are some of the genuines that you better not try and fake:

• Genuine repentance has a copy-cat version of simply saying, “I’m sorry.” Judas was ‘sorry.’ Peter was repentant.
• Genuine serving has a copy-cat of just ‘doing good deeds.’ One develops a heart like God. The other simply gets you false brownie-points with man.
• Genuine community such as we find in small groups (we call them, “Life-Groups.”) at Southbrook Church has a million and one counterfeits. But they can all be summed up as get togethers not centered around Christ. Bunko, Poker Night, golf buddies, creative memory groups…not bad, just don’t expect to develop deep friendships in the Christ there.

Not even sure why I wrote this one…Just some things I’m thinking through. Take it for what it’s worth.