Are You a Great Pretender?

Last night I watched the series premiere of The Grinder, a new comedy on Fox with Rob Lowe and Fred Savage. It was hilarious. Rob Lowe plays a popular actor who played a lawyer on television, while his brother, Fred Savage, is actually a practicing lawyer, but one that isn’t very good. Of course, the actor brother seems to be able to argue and win cases with a flair while his real brother lawyer needs his help. It was very funny indeed and both actors did an excellent job with comedic timing. It also stars William Devane as the father and his interjections into their conversations are awesome.

It made me think this morning while sitting through a delay at the airport in Detroit that sometimes we pretend to be disciples of Jesus and we think that it actually is good enough. Rob Lowe’s character suggests that because he has pretended to be a lawyer for years, he must have what it takes to actually practice law. But in the real world, we can’t rely on pretend doctors and lawyers to help us, we need the real thing.

In everyday Christian living, too often we go through the motions of being a disciple like attending Church on Sundays, saying grace before meals (at least sometimes), and answering that we are Christian, but only when asked. We can do these things without even thinking about it. We are not mindful of our actions or intentions. We are in a way, pretending.

Living as a disciple requires an intentional and deliberate choice, not one time in our past history, but every day of our lives. Then and only then can we grow in our faith and begin a process that leads to true transformation. Words with actions are empty, but actions without intent are just random movement. That can get you by in the television sitcom world, but it real life, it does provide the power to change the world and ultimately bring others to Christ.