You Can't Cheat Jesus!

Is it possible to think of others and ourselves as being “good Christians” while actually being lousy followers of Jesus?

Or, is it possible to hold a prominent position in church, yet lack some basic Jesus-like character traits, like humility, mercy or a serving attitude?

As long as we keep our audience at a distance, it’s actually possible to pretend and to preach and teach beyond the level of our own spiritual life. However, it’s impossible to make a disciple by pretending.

For instance, we can’t show someone how to pray beyond the quality of our own prayer life, and we can’t lead someone into a serving attitude beyond our own willingness to serve. We can’t foster someone’s character past the level of our own character, and we can’t impart any spiritual qualities that we don’t have…

When letting others come close and share our day-to-day life, our true self can’t help but get exposed.

It’s possible to pretend and to cheat ourselves, yet, in the long run we won’t be able to cheat the people around us. And it’s impossible to cheat the Lord.

This may sound scary, yet should not keep us from doing something about it. Let’s face it. Discipleship calls for radical honesty!

When getting transparent with others, our weaknesses may get exposed and we may have to acknowledge that we are not as mature or spiritual as others or we thought we were. We may even discover that we, in fact, are in great need of help and of getting discipled ourselves.

That acknowledgment in itself, I would say, is priceless and would be a good start!