Be Real

"Write a book," I've been told.  If you've been reading MWB very long, you know I have fairly good subject matter.  Yes, Mr. Bill and his beings- doings-sayings offer much to contemplate then put to paper.  Writers, however, often change the names of their characters to "protect the innocent."  The way I see it, I'd have a hard time deciding which one of us (him or me) is the innocent!

 

Author and Presbyterian pastor, J. R. Miller, wrote: "Reputation is what a man's neighbors and friends think of him. Character is what the man IS."  Probably one of the greatest honors one can receive is to be called authentic or real.  For sale everywhere are imitation products: anything from pocketbooks to paintings to flavors to foods.  Everyone, however, longs for the real thing!  In Romans, [Paul] wrote, "Let love be genuine." (12:9).  In this passage, he writes of "hypokrites" or actors that appeared in Greek theaters, who changed facial expressions by simply changing masks.  The actor's natural features were hidden from view. How do we genuinely love the unlovable, like the unlikable, and really care about the loud & rude & obnoxious?  Most of us just pretend to love in silence or "put on a happy face," but that is far from what Christ expects of us; that is not genuine love.  We, like Paul, must go forth with God  "in Christ [Who] always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere." (2 Corinthians 2:14).  To love one another is not an option, not a choice; Christ commands it and Godly obedience demands it.  People ask me, “Is Mr. Bill always like this?”  It’s scary, and makes me nuts sometimes, but he is!  May it said of us that we love deeply and genuinely as Christ first loved us!  Let us boast only in Christ Jesus Who by His Spirit and grace empowers us to love as He does!  Be real!