Are you faking your relationship with God?
If you’re a movie buff you may be familiar with the infamous words of Orlando Jones in the film, Double Take, “You ain’t representing…you ain’t keepin’ it real!” Even though it’s more than a decade old, some of my friends and I still use that line on one another.
If you want meaningful and lasting relationships you’ve got to “keep it real“, which means being honest and intentional about the time you spend together. If you’re not authentic in a relationship, before long the other person will know that you’re merely faking it and the relationship will inevitably end.
For any relationship to thrive it must be authentic-that goes for our relationship with God, too. You can’t fake a relationship with God. Sure, you can make everyone else think that you are spiritual by sporting religious apparel and even boasting about your faith, but eventually you’ll get found out. There will come a time when you’re tempted, or some type of crisis occurs, and your faith will not be strong enough to help you stand up in the face of adversity. The older I get the more I see this to be true in my own life. I have an intense need to spend more time with God every single day and to be more honest with Him about my struggles. I have become utterly dependent upon His grace. If for some reason I miss a day of confession, and reading my Bible and journaling, I just feel “out of whack”-it’s like a thousand times worse than missing your morning cup of coffee.
I haven’t always desired authenticity with God. It’s embarrassing to admit, but in years past I would go a few days without confession, and without reading my Bible. But when it came to letting God steer my decision-making process, or needing Him to help me refrain from sinful habits, I had very little power to do so. Thankfully, that has changed, and it’s because along the way I made a conscious decision to be more disciplined about spending designated time with God, daily. That discipline has produced fruit in my life. It has provided me with the ability to hear from God more clearly and to let His Spirit lead me.
I’m not sure how often you spend time with God, how much you read your Bible, pray, and listen to Him, but I want to encourage you to be very honest with yourself and make an assessment. Ask yourself the question, “Am I keepin’ it real or just faking it?” Maybe God is leading you to exit this website and either head over to BibleGateway.com, or open up your hard copy Bible and spend some time reading His Word and listening to His voice.
Think about it.
Hey! Nice article, as much I agree with its important to spend time with god in both prayer and getting into the bible. I’m a bit less convinced by the “making time” argument. Surely if our relationship with god is as honest as we act keeping it real doesnt involve setting out 5, 10 15 minutes or whatever to him. Our lives are our walk. I think this idea of feeling bad if we miss a day of reading the bible, is it bit unreal tbh, if youve spent your day living out the word. Serving god with yourself, laying yourself down as it were.
Micah:6:* What does the lord require of you? “To seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your god” Not spend however long a day reading or praying. If in the process of living out the love of christ we’ve missed out on reading the scripture. Then I’m doubtful if god will be so bothered.
God Bless xx
Hi There,
Thanks so much for your comment! Those are great insights!
I agree that our life is our walk and that it is our true testimony for “keepin’ it real.” However, Jesus set aside specific/designated time to be alone with his Heavenly Father, so I feel that it’s important for us to do that, as well.
We cannot fall into the trap of being legalistic about a set amount of time-that is a rhythm that must be defined by who God has uniquely created each of us to be. However, I do believe that as Jesus modeled, we should be intentional about cultivating the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father-that takes being tuned into the Spirit so that we know when we need to set aside that time to just be alone with God and in His presence.
It’s a unique tension for us all, for sure! One of my favorite books about this very subject is, “The Life You’ve Always Wanted” by John Ortberg. Ortberg reminds us not to be legalistic in our spiritual disciplines, but rather to focus on the “heart” of our relationship with God, which will lead to a longing within us to be with God. This is very freeing-to just pursue the heart of God, learn to love Him more, which will produce a longing within us to know Him more and to be with Him constantly.
On The Journey,
-Danny