I originally posted this on a new blog called really a ragamuffin, but did not seem to get many hits. To those who have already read/heard this... sorry. For others, please let me know your thoughts.

Having graduated from Bible College, become a licensed minister in a holiness-evangelical denomination, and come to the mission field, I have noticed one thing about most Christians (yes, even fellow ministers and missionaries) that stands out above all other characteristics. Often, we don't really think God is real.

I've often said, and even taught, the importance of being real with others, how we have to try to tear away these fake personas we wear when we go to church, meet with accountability partners, "fellowship" with others, and most importantly, the fake self we tend to put on when we approach our relationship with God. I've often said, that when we are real about who we are, we will encounter God on a real level.

However, over the last few months I have realized how stupid that idea is. I've realized that we can never truly be "real", we can never truly get rid of the masks we wear, without the help of a real God. It's only after the illumination of Christ shines on us, that we'll really be able to see who we are. Ragamuffins. We are all derilicts, nobody's, screw ups, jerks, liars, cheaters, theifs and murderers. No wonder we feel like we need to put on an act when we are around others! But we don't see this. Just look at the way we treat others, the way we get caught up in ridiculous petty things or hold grudges for years on end. We don't see who we are, we don't love like Jesus, because we don't have a real concept of God.

Where our generation is missing something is here: We don't know the real God. Many of us, instead of ever really experiencing God, have just sat through sermons, classes and seminars about how we are suppose to act. Instead of taking the advice of Christ from Matthew 6:33, "...seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you", we seek first the things that we think we're suppose to know about God and then from that we construct our ideas about the kingdom and his righteousness. The problem for many of us, is that we have spent our entire lives creating God, instead of seeking him and then we're confused when the idol that we have made doesn't seem to answer our cries for help, or comfort us in our darkest valleys.

One of my favorite verses in the entire Bible is Jer. 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" but just a line away lies one of the most neglected truths in all of God's Word. Jer. 29:13, continuing his declaration from 29:11, God says "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Could it be that the reason we have to spend so much time trying to fake each other out and convince the world that a relationship with God is worth it, is because we don't know the real God? Could it be that if we would just take time to seek God with all our heart and mind, that we would realize the true significance of the work of the Cross? Could it be that by knowing the real God, we would then be able to be our real selves and people would see and crave such reality, that such reality would revolutionise the way we do Church, the way we do life? I don't think that when we are real about who we are, we will encounter God on a real level, I think that when we encounter God on a real level, only then can we be real about who we really are.

What do you think?