My New Rolex

Guess what? I bought a Rolex this week. Really. Now before you start thinking “we’re paying that preacher way too much.” let me just say that I bought it from a street vendor in China, dirt cheap. Hmm. Kind of makes you wonder doesn’t it. But there it is plain as day on the face of the watch the symbol and the name “Rolex.” The watches caught my eye. Really they looked pretty nice. When I put one on there was one thing I noticed right away. For sure the band was not authentic. Don’t ask me how I know, I could just tell. The band just feels very cheap. But hey, the band doesn’t claim to be “Rolex” only the watch! So, the guy makes me an offer I just can’t refuse and there it is, I’m wearing a Rolex. I chose the silver one instead of the gold because the vendor told me, “The gold one, in one year no gold.” Hmm. When I got back to the hotel I really just began to admire my new Rolex. You know, the more I looked at it the cheaper the entire watch began to look. In fact you really don’t have to look at it very hard to see that the only thing that looks “Rolex” on this watch is the symbol and the name. (Before you start dividing up your swamp land to sell me you do realize that I knew this was not a Rolex when I bought it!) Anyhow as I looked at it and chuckled, I thought how much like some people’s Christian lives this Rolex is. We stamp Christ’s name right there on our lives for everyone to see, but it really only takes one inspection to find that at least one part is very much not authentic just like the band of my watch. But that really is OK. It is not a crucial part of our life. But then on closer inspection our lives really don’t look like a Christian’s at all. In fact the only thing Christian about our lives is that we stamp the name right there for everyone to see. You know what Christian really means? It means Christ follower. The people in the Bible were called Christians because they followed Christ and His teachings. Just like those who followed Herod were Herodians. So I ask, are you a Christian? Now, I’m not asking if you’ve stamped the name on your face. I’m asking could you be found authentic upon close inspection? God’s inspection looks at our heart. That’s pretty close. He looks past the name stamped on the outside and He looks to the Spirit that is on the inside. The only way for us to authenticate the inside is through surrender to Christ. His grace makes us real. His grace changes the way we live. His grace motivates us to follow Him. Be authentic. The only people who chose the replica are tourists who would never sacrifice for the real thing. My next 24 hours will be spent in a plane. Oh Joy. But I’ll know what time it is. I’ll have my Rolex. If you want I’ll bring you here and you can get one for yourself.
After owning my Rolex for almost a week now there is another turn of events. It doesn’t keep time. It stops periodically or slows way down. So now, not only is it not authentic but it is also not useful. Do I really need to make application for you on that? Not authentic and not useful. Let’s be better than my Rolex. Love you all. BK<