Do you remember the old Coke commercials about how it was “The real thing?”  I really liked that ad campaign. In fact, I had their magazine ads taped to my locker when I was in school.  Ahh, the memories.

I love this picture because of everything in this photo, Coke is the LEAST “real” thing.

It’s funny how we get fooled into thinking something is real when it isn’t.  In the culture we live in, we praise celebrity, we chase after money. Often, good is bad and bad is “good” these days.  Have you noticed too?

Christians have taken a real hit in recent years too.  Not because of Christ, but because of the way we represent Him.  The things we say carry weight. They tell if we’re the “real thing” or if we aren’t. And our actions – well, they speak even louder than our words.

I’ve been reading in 1 Peter today. Wow. This is good stuff.  Peter is talking about how we can be the “real thing,” also, except his advice carries with it eternal significance.  The apostle referred to the letter’s recipients as “aliens” (1:1), a word that suggests Peter was speaking not just to Jews or just to Gentiles but to Christians who were living their lives in such a way that they would have stood out as “aliens” among the surrounding culture.

Living near to Jesus Christ for more than three years had provided the apostle Peter the best possible example of what it looked like to live a holy life in a hostile world. More than any other man who walked the earth, Jesus modeled a life that was surrendered to the Father. Jesus showed us how to be in the world and not be “of” it.

Peter admonished Christians to be ready to give an answer for the reason we live the way we do, too!

Check this out from chapter 3:

“Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick.” (The Message)

The “utmost courtesy.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been on the receiving end (and to my embarrassment, the giving end) of unkind remarks. I’ve done stupid things. But I’m trying to do better. And not just for myself, either.

I want to do better because at the end of the day, the world is watching my witness. And even more important than that, my kids are watching me. They live with me! They know if I’m “the real thing” or not.

As a follower of Jesus,  I want everyone who sees me to see Him in me.  His ways are not like the world’s ways. Because He is the only “real thing.”

I don’t want people to look at me and say, “Wow! She home schools!” or even “She’s a great mom/wife.” … I want them to see Jesus. And that takes some serious surrender.  (At least for me it does.)

It means that when the world around me is, well–worldly, I am not. And I’m not talking about fashion. I’m talking about sin. We live in a sinful world.  We often answer to wicked leaders, don’t we?  We pay taxes to governments that do not honor God.  Our world is suffering because it needs Jesus.

We live in a world that is desperate for “the real thing.” We just elected a president based on two words. Do you remember what they were?  Hope and Change.

If you know Jesus, then you’ve got what the world is looking for.

Can other people see Him in you?

You’ve got “the real thing” living in you.

Let’s be like Jesus today, busy moms. He’s the only one truly worthy of imitation.

He’s the real thing.