The difference between reality and the counterfeit

One day a friend gave me a candy bar. Little did I know that he had eaten the real candy bar and carefully replaced it with a piece of wood. When I opened the wrapper, I discovered his clever trick! It was a counterfeit.

Every Christian must examine himself to determine if his salvation is a present reality, or if it is a counterfeit. The scriptures tell us, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5).“

We may be church members, give money in the offering every week, and even give our lives in service to others. But these good works do not make a person a true Christian, although a Christian will certainly do such things. People who look like Christians on the outside, but have no real spiritual life on the inside, are counterfeits. True believers have given their lives completely to Jesus Christ and received Him by faith (John 1:12).

God wants us to take stock of our own lives to be completely sure that we are genuine. We must look closely at ourselves and compare what we are to what the scriptures say a real Christian is. Police officers who are trained to spot counterfeit money spend much time in training and studying the real thing. When we study the real thing, the Bible, and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us, we will know the difference between reality and the counterfeit. We can experience the awesome reality of knowing Christ.