Let’s Be Real…..

Anyone out there remember the Coke slogan a few years ago? Can’t Beat the Real Thing? Remember that one? Well, my post today isn’t about Coke. Although an ice cold Coke Zero would sure hit the spot right now…..I have something even better to quench your thirst. But today, I want to talk about the word REAL! Real means something genuine, actually exists, not imagined or not artificial. So Coke was clever by using the word REAL in their slogan…making us think that the other cola’s were artificial.

As I was reading my Bible the other day I began to think about the word REAL. There is a song we sing at church called “My God Is Real”. It’s a catchy little tune and I love singing it. 🎶 But as I read my Bible, I also began to think of the story where Solomon tested two mothers to decide which one was the real mother. Right before he was faced with this situation, Solomon had a dream….

1 Kings 3:5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee 6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. 8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? 10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

Solomon could have asked for anything but he asked for a wise and understanding heart. Ya see, sometimes I think we use God like a little genie in a bottle. We keep him bottled up in that little place until we want something. Then we start tapping the bottle and asking God where are you? Come out so I can get my wish. Why have you left me God? Aren’t you listening to me? I want this! I want that! We act like a bunch of entitled brats. And then when our magic genie doesn’t grant our wish…..we start to lose our faith. We start doubting God. We doubt that He is listening to our prayers. But are they actually prayers or just our shopping list of things we want? We question if God is even REAL! Yeah…I said it. Isn’t it the truth? How many times have we had a tragedy and heard someone say that if God was REAL then He could have prevented this tragedy?

NEWS FLASH: He is REAL! He answers all of your prayers, but there is no guarantee that He is going to answer them the way you want. We can’t just tap into our prayer life when we want something. God wants a true and authentic intimate relationship with us. He wants a REAL relationship with us. So back to Solomon……after he wakes up from his dream, he is faced with a very tough decision. Two women each had a child 3 days apart. One child dies, the other lives. They begin to fight over the living child with both saying she is the child’s mother. They go to King Solomon to make the decision of who gets to keep the child. So what does Solomon do?

1 Kings 3:24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. 27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

That sounds awful that Solomon was going to cut the child in half but, Solomon never intended to cut the child. He used that wisdom God gave him to discern who the real mother was. He knew the real mother would rather give her child up than to see it killed. The fake mother could care less about the child so she was willing to let it be killed. She wanted half of something dead. That was how Solomon figured out who was REAL and who was fake.

Do you want to know how God figures out whether we are REAL or Fake? I am glad you asked…..God knows our hearts. He knows what we think, how we feel, our thoughts, strengths and weaknesses. When we are faced with the decision of cutting something in half or giving it all away, God sees who the REAL Chandel is. Am I just gonna cut it in half and hold on to half of the sin or am I gonna be the REAL Christain and give it up?

Sometimes it is hard to give up the things we like. Something as simple as giving up a TV show or as important as giving up a job can show God that we are REAL. Or how about that grudge you been holding onto for so long…it is about time you gave that up instead of giving half away and keeping the other half. We don’t need to hold on to half of it because we are being a fake Christian. Remember, God knows us better than we know ourselves. He wants all of us, not just our wants. He just wants a REAL relationship with us. Not one based on what He can give you. A true and real relationship. He doesn’t want us to hold on to half of our dead sin.

I like the last verse where it talks about all of Israel fearing Solomon because the wisdom of God was in him. This is how the enemy should be with us! The enemy should fear us because we are not the fake Christian who holds onto half of their sin. Satan should fear us because he can’t beat the real thing. We have authority over him through Jesus Christ. He knows we do, but do we use that authority? Or are we too busy cutting our sin in half to be the REAL Thing? Are we holding on to that half of something dead.. My prayer tonight is that we can give our sin up and be the REAL Christian instead of holding on to half of it and being the fake Christian………God Bless!