"Cheap Imitation"
So King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem. He ransacked the treasuries of the Lord 's Temple and the royal palace; he stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes, and he entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to the Temple of the Lord , the guards would also take the shields and then return them to the guardroom. Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord 's anger was turned away, and he did not destroy him completely. There were still some good things in the land of Judah. (2 Chronicles 12:9-12 NLT)
Solomon had some impressive gold shields. They were impressive in weight & in beauty. They were a sign of God's blessing & presence. So what does Rehoboam do when an army comes & takes them away? Replace them? No, he makes imitations of the real thing. See, bronze from a distance looks like gold but it is far less precious of a metal. There is nothing more precious among metals than gold. Bronze may look the same from far away but up close it cannot be compared with gold.
Similarly, many so called "Christians" are just imitations of the real thing. They look the same from a distance. They imitate the real thing. Outwardly it's very difficult to tell the difference. But upon further inspection & a close up of their lives you begin to see things don't add up.
Many of us have settled for outward imitation of the real thing. We are happy to go to church, be moral, give our money but if God were to look closely at our hearts would we be gold or bronze? Are we authentically his or just a cheaper imitation of the real deal?
Let's not settle for imitation, let's be the genuine people of God he deserves & we most need to be!
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