The construction in the middle of the street caught my eye one day last week as I drove by. A few days later I stopped and took pictures of the process. I couldn’t help myself!
The masons were stamping concrete to look like cobblestones. I had never given much thought to how it was done, other than thinking they just used a dowel to carve lines into the cement.
I was a bit off! If you’re curious about the process I observed, read up on it here.
Then today I passed by someone’s driveway while walking my dog, and their entrance looked like this:
Quite a difference from the stamped version!
Real cobblestone is more pleasing to the eye (mine, at least!), with greater color and texture variations. It also costs more to have installed.
Genuine or Imitation?
Our Christian faith can resemble one of these finished products. We may try to look like we’ve got it all together with a Sunday morning smile, or we may be trying to do enough good deeds to be acceptable to God. Either of those approaches resembles the stamped concrete counterfeit. We may look good on the surface, but the facade is only skin deep. Our attempts are poor copies of the real thing.
We need to realize that we will never have it all together. We all miss the mark of perfection, and can never earn the right to enter heaven. In his grace and mercy, God sent his Son Jesus to pay the price for us to be made acceptable.
“Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault” (Colossians 1:22 NLT).
What a gift we’re given when we believe this amazing truth! We’re freed from trying to earn God’s love, and begin to realize that he’s loved us all along, and that he proved it through his priceless, invaluable sacrifice.
“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8).
When we step into his grace and mercy, accepting his sacrifice in our place, we begin to change from the inside out. We no longer need to pretend we’re something that we’re not, because he begins making us into something new!
“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
What About You?
How would you categorize your faith?
- Is it genuine? Are you growing in the knowledge of God’s love for you? Is the inward work of the Holy Spirit evidenced in how you live and relate to others around you? Are you investing time into getting to know your Creator, who formed you with a purpose? Take a moment and rejoice in his grace!
- Or is your faith counterfeit? Is your faith really just an outward show, with no inward relevance whatsoever? Are you worried that no matter how hard you try to be good, it just may not be good enough? God wants to help you! All he asks is that you believe.
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Lauri Hawley 