Authenticity > Pinterest

My Monday thru Friday morning commute ritual consists of tuning in to KDRY AM 1100 – San Antonio’s Bible Teaching radio station. Today, one of my favorite pastors to listen to, Chip Ingram, was talking about authenticity. That as Christians, we are warned by Isaiah to be cautious of solely praising the Lord with our words instead of our actions.

NIV Isaiah 29:13 “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based merely on human rules they have been taught.”

It got me thinking … just how authentic are my actions compared to my words, thoughts and beliefs?

From what I’ve read and learned, Christ was the most humble, determined man who ever walked this earth. Nearly all of his recorded miracles were done on the Sabbath. I know he rested, after all a day of rest is deemed Holy by our Father and Christ was indeed Holy, but there was an immediate need during those moments so he responded with his actions. He was a carpenter. A carpenter. A man working with his hands in a trade business that makes things for others by hand.  What a foreign concept for my generation. He worked, as the son of God, and worked for God doing the hardest job known to man – bringing sinful, lost souls back to God. He talked the talked, and walked the walk of an honest, humble Christian man.

And here I am, reading scriptures, jotting down notes, praying in silence and out loud, attempting to raise kingdom children – yet I too often get caught up  in the Pinterest world around me. No disrespect to Pinterest at all – it’s pretty amazing. I’m talking about the concept of the Pinterest millennial – the new age Keeping Up with the Jones’ or dare I say Kardashians-type of person. Where we’re never satisfied and driven by creation instead of its creator.

I’m not one for new year’s resolutions as the world around us defines them. But I think a commitment to being an authentic Christian is needed now more than ever, especially with the pressures of the media and Internet to have the perfect (insert any noun here), and turn my focus away from what others have and are doing to what I can do more of in the servant category.

Have you had your annual spiritual checkup? What’s on the to-do list for you in 2016?