When I was little, I had a pretend friend named Lori Simmons. I have no idea where the name came from, but she was innocent play and around for a good while.
These days, pretending often takes a different shape. Social media has become a landscape full of polished squares and highlight reels, and it’s easy to forget that real life — real faith — isn’t always camera ready.
John reminds us: God is the real deal. And in our relationship with Him, there’s no room for pretending.
Four Marks of Walking Authentically With Christ
First, God is Light — pure light, and in Him there are no traces of darkness. Jesus Christ is the standard.
Second, if we claim to experience a shared life with Jesus Christ, we can’t live our lives by dabbling around with or experimenting with darkness. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, He offers us complete mercy and grace, and we must cut our ties with darkness.
Third, an experienced life with Jesus Christ completely changes our relationship with others. We love more, we care more, we serve more. We become more like Jesus. There is a difference, because we are different.
Finally, when we turn our life over to Jesus Christ, we get completely honest and real about our own spiritual condition. As John notes, we won’t continue to fool and deceive ourselves that we don’t sin or that we are free of sin. Instead, we admit our sins, and Jesus Christ will be true to himself and completely forgive and purge us from all our wrongdoing.
“If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth — we’re not living what we claim.”
This week, let’s ask God to reveal the areas of our life that need His attention and forgiveness. He promises to forgive.
Watch This Week’s Devotional
Taking It Into Your Week
- Scroll your own feed and ask what it would look like if it were honest instead of polished.
- Name the one thing you are still pretending about. You do not have to post it — just stop pretending to Him.
- Read 1 John 1 and notice that admitting comes before forgiving, every time.
More Farm Sunday Devotionals
Pass on the Good News. Now that’s BombDiggity.
Written by
Lane and Jules Morris
Authors and University of Tennessee faculty writing from our farm in East Tennessee about gardening, the farm kitchen, faith and designing a flourishing life at any age. More about us
