In 1974 Coca Cola came out with a commercial song called It’s the Real Thing. This little ditty took the airwaves by storm for several years and had everybody in the country humming the tune and pattin’ their feet. “It’s the real thing … what the world wants today,” the young people sang. And so it is today. People everywhere are looking for something real …”the real thing.”

Click the link below, pat your foot along with me, and listen to the song. Then click back into today’s Dose of Encouragement as we start our week with a question. How do you know “the real thing” when you see it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDSnjjdGh5M

THE REAL THING

If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, 

he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words…

I John 2:4

“Boys, what you do speaks so loud I can’t hear a word you say,” I said to my three energizer bunny driven sons. I said those words more times than I can count. I wanted them to grow up understanding if their words didn’t match their actions; they were not the real thing. If there has ever been a time when we as a people need to know how to identify the real thing – the truth – when we see it, it is now.

Hypocrisy: A word unbelievers often apply to those who claim to be Christians. However, that’s only one example of the word. Anytime a person claims one thing with his lips, yet consistently lives in opposition to what he says he believes, he is a hypocrite.  That is true in the work place, the home, in religion or in politics where we see it especially during election season. <sigh> I am so weary of the never ending hypocrisy of political campaigns … well, I could just spit! Do I hear an amen?

But I digress … back to the Dose … wherever hypocrisy is found, deception abounds.   Hypocrisy leads to deception and deception leads to defeat for who those who fall for it.

Jesus was well acquainted with the problem. In the middle of a sermon to the religions and political leaders of His day, He called them hypocrites and vipers – snakes! (Matthew 23:33) He quickly let us know how He felt about hypocrites in

Matthew 23:28,  

“Outwardly you look like righteous people, 

but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

It’s clear Jesus didn’t like hypocrisy any more than we do. And He points out that if we say we believe in Him and don’t do what He said, we are one. Or as The Message says,

“If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, 

he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words.”

I John 2:4

He was the champion of the people then and is still the champion of the people now. His primary concern is for our spiritual life and includes our lives here on earth. It grieves Him when we are not who we say we are. Why? In John 10:10 Jesus said:

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that 

they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (NKJV)

Until tomorrow,

Your Traveling Companion

Brenda