Playing Make-Believe

                        I grew up in the age before video games.  My brother and I used to go outside and play make-believe.  We would find our latest TV hero and try to pretend to be them.  I remember swinging from a grapevine in our backyard pretending to be Tarzan, that is until the grapevine broke.  We would also pretend to be pirates and swordfight each other with sticks.  We would even jump out of a tree with a towel around our neck pretending to be Superman.  Somehow our make-believe play would always end up at pretending to be Cowboys and Indians.

            Playing make-believe is fine for children.  However, it is not a game we should play when it comes to living the Christian life.  The cause of Christ and an unbelieving world cry out for believers who are living their faith. The Apostle John warns us that there are many who may pretend to be Christians but in reality, are only make-believers.  He tells us in 1 John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us, However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us”.  Make believers do not have a personal relationship with Jesus (1 Jn. 1:3).  Make-believers do not keep Christ’s commands (1 Jn. 2:4).  Make-believers do not love the brethren (1 Jn. 2:9).  Make-believers do not walk in the light (1 Jn.1:6).  Make-believers love the world (1 Jn. 2:15).  And make-believers do not continue in the faith (1 Jn. 2:19).

            John in his first epistle shows us what a genuine Christian really looks like.  We will know each other by our fruit.  Do we have the birthmarks that show the genuineness of our faith, or are we just playing make-believe?  It is time to grow up and be done with our pretending.  It is time to be the real thing. Our eternal destiny depends on knowing for sure that we belong to Jesus.