I was thumbing through a motorcycle catalog the other day and noticed some of the riding gear for sale.
What I found amusing was the gear that was meant to look like it was already broken in and distressed. Basically you are buying something new that was created to look old.
Why does that sell?
Because there are people out there who want to look like they've been on long rides and adventures without actually having gone on them. A visual image of a biker has emerged looking weather-beaten and worn and that image has become something marketable.
I look at my father-in-law's two helmets that sit on a shelf in our dining room. They bear the marks of rides and time. We even have photos of him as a young man racing his Veloocette, wearing them. I can't imagine Ingvar buying them already aged and worn. The thought would not have crossed his mind. In fact, I would imagine if you showed him your new gear, all old-looking, and told him you paid extra for it to look that way, he would shake his head at how you wasted your money!
You can't bypass the miles. To gain life experience, you have to have life experience. That is something that comes in a recipe of risk, adventure, miles and time. I can tell a poser who just bought the clothes. They may look authentic from a distance, but their eyes tell a different story up close.
Following Jesus Christ involves the same risk, adventure, miles and time. We cannot bypass the process it takes to become a man or woman of God. We may be able to quickly quote scripture or have a big new bible, attend church and even be the first to speak up in a bible study. But to know Jesus Christ involves a process that is often painful, as the cross is meant to be. There are times when we want to give up, times when we feel like we can't go on, times of surprising beauty and times of heartache and pain.
It's life, real life.
To know Christ takes walking with him. We cannot bypass that process and simply try to look the part on the outside and wear the t-shirt, as if Jesus were the latest trending thing.
Being conformed into his image takes time.
"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)
