You don't have to be a Fake Christian

I am just going to come right out and say it, Christians can be fake.

If I have just stepped on your toes, first you need to understand that I am one of you. I’m not just an Easter and Christmas Christian. I’m not the Christian who only thinks Scripture is good for Instagram selfies. I’ve read through the Bible cover to cover more times than I’ve binged on Lethal Weapon and trust me, that’s a lot. I have attended church my entire life.
This isn’t a criticism of the Church from the outside, this is coming from someone who can turn to a song in the hymnal faster than you can locate it on Pandora. I feel more connected to Christ each day that I’m alive, and so I hope we can be adults here and have a real conversation: Oftentimes, Christians are fake, and it’s a turn off.

I can share this because I was one of them. I remember going through my divorce a few years ago and people were shocked. I remember people telling me that they couldn’t believe it, because they thought we were the “perfect couple.” I can tell you now, we were not. I mean I was selected to be a Deacon in our church.  We placed our Sunday Masks on each day we walked out of the house.
When I first decided I was really going to do this religion thing, I too thought that this meant I had to be perfect. So, I didn’t share the things I was struggling with. I was not real with anyone. I put on a front to cover my struggles. At the same time I would share with others the power of God and what he could do for them but I did not applying it in my own life. I didn’t want anyone to question whether or not I had a sincere relationship with God, and so I tried to say the right thing, at all times, and even felt a need to prove to people that I was a good person. Somewhere along the way I believe God was like, “Ok Mike. Chill out,” and I went through the strangely difficult process of allowing myself to be who I actually am.  I tried to be the perfect Christian, and it turns out that God just needed me to be myself.
I know I am not alone in this because hello newsfeed! I see it all the time. Christians trying to outdo one another in their Christian-dom. Everyone pretending they have it all together. Making sure that every good deed doesn’t go without a notification and photo-op. But look fam, that’s not who Christ was. The Bible says to give in, in such a way that your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand has done. Christ didn’t wait until there was a crowd to begin his sermon. He would get so lost in this compelling conversation with one person that others gathered. I had a friend who told me once that no one is ever converted from the pulpit. If you want to make an impact you have to get off the stage and start having some real conversations, with some real people, as the real you. You don’t have to post photos of your Bible or Hebrew tattoo to prove to people you like Jesus. Just be kind and respectful. Give to people who need it. Spend your energy trying to boost others, rather than looking for ways for others to boost you.
Live in such a humble, gracious, loving way that people just want to be next to you.  All different types of people. Not just other Christian people. Because P.S., that’s how that works.

Whenever we try too hard to convince others of something, I worry that we are actually trying to convince ourselves. I have spent the last couple years after my divorce focusing on showing God who I am, rather than other people. I’d say that it was easy, but it wasn’t. As a salesperson and public speaker, my natural instinct is to love the crowd, the compliments and attention. But if you read through the Gospels, you will find very quickly that Christ actually let himself get lost in a crowd, wasn’t looking for compliments, and never sought out attention.
So, stop faking it and be real. You never know who you can help or touch by being real. I have learned this by being open about my divorce and the choices I have made in my life. Therefore, stop with the awkward sermonizing of pain, stop smiling to people’s faces if you are going to whisper behind their backs, stop pretending like your kids are perfect because we all know they are not. Remember, we were all young once. Hey, look I’m on my second marriage so stop pretending like your marriage is perfect. Don’t get me wrong, I love my wife but trust me we have our struggles.  Stop the hypocrisy. Stop quoting 1 Corinthians 13:1 and then laughing at racist jokes. Stop pretending like you have never stubbed your toe and dropped an expletive (shut up we are all sinners).

Christianity is just about coming to God as you are, and hoping that each day, he will help you put a little more 'good' into a world.  It’s about genuinely loving God and genuinely loving people.
The world doesn’t need more perfect Christians. What it needs is more authentic ones.