Make It

"Fake It 'til You Make It"

I think it's an interesting phrase. I think in a number of cases that can be good advice. It can be a way to learn things like manners. Yet, like most things that have good potential when it's taken too far it can get ugly. On Sunday morning after worship we happened to catch the preacher Joel Osteen on TV. What we got out of his sermon was, if you are feeling bad just tell yourself to have a good day. It kind of rubbed Dawn and I the wrong way. Sometimes your days are bad enough that you can't just will yourself to be happy and cheery, in fact it might just be wrong. For example, I had friend who is an ER nurse tell me about a woman who came in with a child that died from SIDs over night. She showed up later that day because another child of hers had been run over by a car. So what I heard from Joel is that this woman could, and should, just decide to have a good day. I don't think so. We had some other issues with what we heard as well, but we won't get into them here.

Sometimes we have bad days with our faith, we have times when we start to wander in a spiritual wilderness. I think we that happens we have a tendency to try and cover it up and make everything look good. We don't want to look like we lack for faith. The devotion from "Our Daily Bread" talked about that some today. In an attempt to cover up our lack of faith we decide to fake it until we make it. An interesting thought. It might just work sometimes. Yet, I wouldn't recommend it because it puts quite a burden on you that you then need to bear. Instead, this would be another place to be genuine, especially with fellow believers. As a Christian you are a part of a community, that means in those tough times we are here to help bear your burdens so you don't have to by yourself. It is through the body of Christ that you will make it... not by faking it.