“However that may be, let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you….”
1 CORINTHIANS 7:17 ESV
You were created as a designer original specialty - why live your entire life as a copy? Sheila P. Spencer
Okay, here's another Sheila confession - so don’t judge me. My first designer bag. During a trip, I wanted to purchase a designer bag. I bought one and it was a perfect value. I remember it like yesterday. It was beautiful and based on the price I paid, it was fake.
My friend and I both knew that we were buying imitation. They looked beautiful, and we compared them with a friend's authentic one when we returned to Los Angeles. The resemblance was amazing, and there was only a slight difference. But it was still a copy and reproduction. It had all of the appearances, but it wasn’t the real thing.
Experts are trained to detect if something is genuine or not. There is usually one of two results. The expert examines the item and determines if it is original or a reproduction. The interesting note is that the expert knows the exact traits and signs of an original piece of work. There may be two pieces that appear exactly the same to the human eye.
Yet one can still be a reproduction. The experts have been trained to know how to detect if a piece is not original. Two pieces of art may look exactly alike, but one is an original and valuable masterpiece. The other is a copy.
A Certificate of Authenticity verifies that it is genuine and legal. It also states the qualifications and full contact information of the individual or entity that authored the certificate with his or her complete and current contact information.
God is also fully qualified to issue our certificate of authenticity since God is our author and creator.
You were created as a designer original specialty - why live your entire life as a copy? You were uniquely created and divinely inspired – your life script was written in the first chapter of Jeremiah. You are God’s masterpiece and divine specialty – born and sealed with a certificate of authenticity.
Value increases with authenticity. Originality creates more worth. We are at our best and highest worth when we are living and walking in our God given purpose.
The opening line from a recent article literally took me out and reminded me about authenticity.
“Would a God whose claim to fame is breaking out of a borrowed tomb make me live the rest of my life in someone else’s box?”
Melech Thomas
I literally had to pause after reading his opening sentence. I serve a God who was and is a disrupter. Jesus disrupted systems, shifted hearts and flipped tables in more ways than one. Breaking out of a borrowed tomb!! Authenticity is what calls us to break out of the boxes created for us by others and ourselves. Authenticity calls us to break out of the molds that limit and prevent us from being our authentic selves. We were created with unique gifts, personalities and quirks. It is how we impact the world.
Authenticity invites us to ourselves.
“Be your authentic self. Your authentic self is who you are when you have no fear of judgment or before the world starts pushing you around and telling you who you're supposed to be. Your fictional self is who you are when you have a social mask on to please everyone else. Give yourself permission to be your authentic self.”
Dr. Phil
This above all: “To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Hamlet, Shakespeare
Ain’t nothing like the real thing.
Authentically,
Rev Sheila P Spencer
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