The Fake Button.
That's right, I made up a term! If you're confused right now, let me explain.
So, you're in the car, on your way to church. You just had an unbelievably difficult morning with your kids. One didn't get out of bed until you dumped ice water on their face, and one wanted to wear the football jersey that they wore yesterday, and you didn't have a chance to wash it. So, you've got a sleeper and a stinker. Now you're driving down the road, listening to the sleeper tell the stinker how they can't breathe because of the smell that is wafting off of the jersey. Finally, you yell into the back seat and tell them both to shut up. They don't. You yell again, this time with an extra four-letter word for emphasis. Your spouse doesn't like the way you just talked to your precious off-spring, so now you two are fighting. By the time you pull into the church parking lot, you have a full-on family fight. It's not pretty. In fact, it's pretty nasty. But then, you have to get out of the car, and walk in to church. You are about go into the lion's den. The den is your church building. The lions are all of the perfect little church people with perfect kids waiting to judge you. What do you do?
THE FAKE BUTTON!
You push that imaginary button, plaster that fake little smile on your face, and walk into church like you have it all together. You don't have it all together. You've had a terrible week, and a really terrible morning, but who wants to hear that? That's not what church is for. Church is where we act perfect so we don't get shunned. Where we tell our kids to "be on your best behavior," so our friends won't tell everyone else what's wrong with them. Where we ask for prayer, but not for real issues. Just the ones that people can't use against us. Right?
So, how do we get rid of the "fake button" in our churches? I think it has to start with us. What if we start showing unconditional love to our brothers and sisters? What if we start being honest about our struggles, even though it brings criticism? What if we refuse to fake anything? What if we commit to being true to Jesus Christ, and to ourselves, regardless of the consequences? What if we don't play the church game? What if we choose to never use other people's struggles against them? What if we show grace, and refuse to allow our own self-righteousness to dictate our actions? What if, when we see fault in others, we choose to focus on their strengths, or maybe the pain that is causing the faults in their lives.
What if we replace the "Fake Button" with the reality of the love of Jesus Christ?
I'm trying to break my fake button. Care to join me?
Love you guys
Josh
