Good Monday Morning (2-7-11),

“If we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”

This Scripture, found in 1^st Corinthians 11, was written by the Apostle Paul as he dealt with the question of communion, which some also call the Lord’s Supper. As the Apostle Paul noted, a very important aspect of our spiritual relationship with our Father is the performance of self-examination, allowing the Holy Spirit’s voice to compose in us the gift of repentance.

I recently read an article by Francis Frangipanes called, “Beware: It Is Easy To Fake Christianity.”

This article did a good job in explaining why it’s important for Christians to allow the Lamp of God to reveal our true heart. Therefore, I thought you would enjoy reading portions of it.

Wayne Witcher.

Beware: It Is Easy to Fake Christianity.

Prove All Things

"But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good" (1 Thess. 5:21). Would you buy a car without driving it? Would you purchase a house sight unseen? Of course not! Yet, many of us accept various "plans of salvation" that do not really save us from the distresses of hell. In spite of the fact that Jesus came to give us abundant life, we remain sinful and selfish. A car may look nice, but if it will not drive across town we should not trust it to take us across the country.

Likewise, if our Christianity does not work in this life where we can test it, it is foolhardy to hope it will successfully transport us into eternity where, if we fail the test, we suffer eternal separation from God.

I do not wish to imply, however, that unless we get every doctrine right and every interpretation perfect we will be refused entrance into heaven. Christianity is more a matter of the heart than the head; it is a maturing of love more than knowledge. The test of truth is not an intellectual pursuit but whether you are drawing closer, week by week, to knowing and loving Jesus Christ.

At the same time, we should not be afraid to test what we believe. Paul says, "Test yourselves . . . examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?" (2 Cor. 13:5).

The power and person of Jesus Christ is in us; to believe in Him is to progressively become like Him. As it is written, "as He is, so also are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).

However, if we have been indoctrinated to believe that the kingdom of God, and Christianity itself, does not really have to work, or if the absence of holiness and power fails to trouble us, something is seriously wrong with our concept of truth….

The Power in Holiness

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be . . . having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (2 Tim. 3:1–5 KJV). Holiness is powerful. Have you ever met a truly holy man or woman? There is a power in their godliness. If, however, one has never known a Christlike soul, it becomes very easy to fake Christianity.

Remember this always: being false is natural to the human heart; it is with much effort that we become true. Unless we are reaching for spiritual maturity, our immaturity shapes our perceptions of God.

We point to the Almighty and say, "He stopped requiring godliness," when in reality, we have compromised the standards of His kingdom. Know for certain that the moment we stop obeying God, we start faking Christianity.

And as we mature, we begin to realize that the Spirit of Christ is actually within us. The cross emerges off the printed page, it stands upright before us, confronting us with our own Gethsemanes, our own Golgothas—but also our own resurrections through which we ascend spiritually into the true presence of the Lord.

With Paul we say,

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. —Galatians 2:20

Do not let yourself be misled! Place upon your theology the demand that it work—your eternal salvation depends upon it!

If Christ is within us, we should be living holy, powerful lives. No excuses.

If we are not holy or if there is not the power of godliness in our lives, let us not blame God. As it is written, "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar" (Rom. 3:4). Let us persevere in seeking God until we find Him, until we discover "what [we are] still lacking" (Matt. 19:20). Let us press on until we "lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:12).

How long should we continue to seek Him? If we spent all our lives and all our energies for three minutes of genuine Christlikeness, we would have spent our lives well. We will say like Simeon of old, "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation" (Luke 2:29–30). We do not want to just give mental assent to Christian doctrine; we want to see, have contact with and live in the experienced reality of Christ's actual presence. The moment we settle for anything less, we begin faking Christianity.

Francis Frangipanes. “Beware: It Is Easy to Fake Christianity.”