Can't Beat the Real Thing

There are a lot of "Christians" running around.  There are also a lot of people who like to think of themselves as spiritual.  We have seen some great examples this fall.  The pastor who wanted to burn the Koran, the pastor who told his people to close their Facebook accounts but then admitted that he and his wife had been involved in sexual sin.  How about the Westboro Baptist church that protests at soldiers funerals.  We can probably name personally people who say they are Christian, may attend church, may even talk a lot about spiritual things and yet make you wonder.

The Bible says, "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."  (Colossians 3:12-14 NIV).  This connects well with the admonition in 1 Cor. 13 that reminds us that without love, great spiritual talk and knowledge is useless.  So, how can you tell if you are dealing with a "true believer" as it were as opposed to someone who is playing the part?  Do they routinely show compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness?  How do they relate to those they consider enemies?  Do they bear with and forgive?  Are they focused on grievances?

We all have bad days where we fall short of that passage, but if there is an established pattern instead of just a momentary slip, perhaps we are seeing someone playing a part.  After all, looking back at Colossians 3:12-14, if the last part of the verse isn't true of you, perhaps the first part isn't either.