Just be real

A guy told me the other day, “I think Christians ought to be happy people.” This comment was then posted on Facebook and got about a jillion “likes” so it must be true. I want to agree but then I think, what about the days when we are not so happy? A

Maybe happy is not the right word, maybe the right word is real. Christians ought to be real. I read somewhere that we are to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice—that’s being real. Authentic, honest, genuine people tend to impress me.

The Apostle Paul reminded the Church in Corinth (Corinth equaled Vegas back in the day) that some of them were immoral, greedy, drunkards, slanderers and thieves but the reality is some of them were still immoral, greedy, drunkards, slanderers and thieves.

Augustine said, “If you want to be great, then be.”

My famous, celebrity pastor friend (if I told you his name you would recognize it, he’s on television and radio every day) tells me he is not too sure about that but he understands if we want to be effective at witnessing for Christ we need to “be.” I think what he means is we need to be authentic. No one likes a fake. He says, the culture around us values the phrase, “You too.”

I heard about another famous, celebrity pastor that got arrested for drunk driving and he was broken-hearted over it. He told a friend about it and he said, “I have lost my platform.” His friend told him, “No. You can’t lose something you never had. You never had a platform. Now you do. Don’t waste it.”

Some say the church doesn’t need to try to impact the world for Christ or even try to be a good witness. These people simply say, “The church just needs to show up where normal everyday people are and be like Jesus.”

We struggle and that’s okay. Jesus struggled too but He did not give into the frustration (He never sinned).

Do you remember in Matthew 26:39? He asked Abba Father if there was a Plan B concerning the cross? Of course there wasn’t, and He was obedient.

If we are real about our struggles and don’t act like we have it all together they will say, “You too.” When they find out that we are real people with real struggles won’t they hear the real Gospel and realize that if we can follow Jesus they can follow Jesus too?

When we lived in the panhandle of Texas I took my clothes to the dry cleaners every week. One Sunday my dry-cleaning lady walked into the church service and she was surprised I was the preacher. She told me, she thought I was a feedlot cowboy. That’s one of the best things anybody had ever said to me, especially the cowboy part. I hope she knew that I was happy but sometimes sad, and regardless of what was happening in my life that I was real. Jesus was real and I want to be like Jesus.

He told me to tell you that.