Keep It Real

Objective: Make your choices based on God’s realities, rather than the world’s temporary ones.

Diamond Quotes:

“It’s hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.” – Dolly Parton

Dear Diamond,

We all know who is really a girl’s best friend.

Sincerely, Chocolate Cake.  –Anonymous

Pecos Diamond Factoid:  The best way to find Pecos diamonds is to look at the desert floor when the sun is at low angles. Look for small areas that seem to sparkle like diamonds.

 

            These days, it’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t. Even popular reality shows are scripted and seldom what they seem to be (sorry if I’m bursting anyone’s bubbles). So, what makes the Christian real and authentic? How do we differ from others? I think it actually goes back to the basics of what makes man different from all other animal creatures—even though both man and animal creatures were created by one Creator God.

            When God created man, he set them above the other creatures. He gave man the capacity to reason; the capacity to choose between good and evil (the Garden of Eden is proof that we failed miserably on that one). Science can prove that some animals do have the capacity to choose good over bad, but God gave man something deeper. He gave man the ability to repent. Not only this, but to facilitate true repentance, he sacrificed his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. No other creature can accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

            To be a Christian is to repent of sin and accept Christ as your Savior. It is striving to be like Him in all you think, say, and do. That is not easy, and all too often mistakes happen. In fact, the Bible assures us that ALL of us are sinners and fall short of God’s grace. But God provides the means of forgiveness through his perfect GRACE: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, and dear friends that is what makes us an authentic Christian.

Romans 5:8  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

            The greatest temptation we face is being an authentic Christian on Sunday with our church-going friends, then falling short come Monday morning. If you struggle being a “real” Christian during the week; don’t worry, the apostle Paul struggled, too. His frustration with sin is recorded in a tennis-ball (or more contemporarily pickleball) style of writing, and although this first passage is a little lengthy, keep in mind the picture of back and forth action over the net. Two additional scriptures have also been provided.

Romans 7:15-19, 20-21, 25, and 8:1-2)  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. … Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. … Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! … Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 10:9-10, 13 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. … for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

1 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)  This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person (KJV: new creature / NIV: new creation). The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

 

Gracious Heavenly Father,

            Guide my choices today. Help me demonstrate to the world what it means to be a “real” Christian. Let the world see a difference in the forgiven and grace-filled me.

            In the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, Amen.

 

The devotional Keep It Real  appeared first for a Pecos Diamonds Devotional series,

written and compiled by Dotty Willmon, August-September 2018;

updated and posted September 2024 on Write From My Heart at

https://writefrommyheartblog.blogspot.com

email: Dotty Willmon, writefrommyheartblog@gmail.com