Fake It Till You Make It
That is how you love in a relationship when you aren’t feeling love. That is how you become a better employee when you are not being the one you should be.
That is how you take vacation time and enjoy it even when you are a workaholic. That is how you become a more generous giver even when you have strong tendencies to be selfish. That is how you start showing up on time even if you are a “latebird”. That is also how you love everyone as if they are included in the life of Christ, and how you embrace the Gospel of your adoption in Christ 2000 years ago. You fake it, till you make it.
At first that may seem like one of the most unauthentic things you could do in the real and authentic Truth you are learning about in Christ. However, even though you may embrace that Jesus has embraced everyone, including you, in His good grace, you are still called a sinner for good reason! In other words, to admit that you believe in Jesus is to admit that there is something about yourself that you should stop believing in, especially that part in you that does not believe in him! And there is a part of you (and a part of me!), that does not believe in Him.
Therefore, to admit being a sinner is to admit living in the unreality of our darkened minds. This means that when we sinners are faking Kingdom Thinking and Living, we are actually participating in the truly genuine life. Ha-Ha!
Besides, you know by experience how effective and practical this technique is! Remember that time you were goofing off and not getting your work done and all of a sudden you got word that the boss was approaching? All of a sudden you started pretending as if you were working by working so hard you actually started sweating. And not only did you impress the boss, you actually got some real work done while feeling truly good that the boss could be proud of his/her hard working employee! Tee-Hee!
Not only is this something I have found to be a very effective practice for participating with Jesus in His Life, I have also discovered of late that C.S. Lewis promoted this effective truth, too! In “A Year With C.S. Lewis”, p.194, he writes the following:
Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you already have it. That is why children’s games are so important. They are always pretending to be grown-ups – playing soldiers, playing shop. But all the time, they are hardening their muscles and sharpening their wits so that the pretence of being grown-up helps them to grow up in earnest.
Now, the moment you realize ‘Here I am dressing up as Christ,’ it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which at that very moment the pretence could be made less of a pretence and more of a reality. You will find several things going on in your mind which would not be going on there if you were really a son of God. Well, stop them. Or you may realize that, instead of saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping your wife to wash-up. Well, go and do it.
Thanks for the confirmation, Jack!
~ Timothy Brassell
Trinity and Humanity 
Tim,
I like this post. It disarms my perfectionistic tendencies and gives a realistic view of who I am as a person… a sinner thankfully participating in the life of triune God through Jesus, my Big Brother and Lord. My thinking about what I do in life always seems to revolve around trying harder and feeling bad when I fail… I get wrapped up in doing things on my own and forget who God says I am in Christ. This reminder that our imperfect efforts are actually a participation in the life of triune God is extremely encouraging! Thank you!
-Greg
I agree with the concept presented;
We are encouraged to “put on” the new man, which we accomplish one step at a time. Even though we may not feel 100% sincere, the Holy Spirit has the uncanny ability to make adjustments to strengthen our feeble attempts to do what is right.
Bonnie
I know of a lot of Christians fake it, but trying to fake the wrong thing, and they never really make it!
Just accepting the fact that I don’t have to fake that stuff and just let the reality of Jesus take over my reality. Now that I got to fake some because it does take effort to let go and let God.
I got this analogy I like to use on people.
I pull out a set of keys or a quarter and lay it on my hand and then tell them to try to take it out of my hand.
They are expecting me to close my hand, so they quickly grab it. Since I did not close my hand, they easily got it, then I would say, “No, try to take it out of my hand”
So again, they would reach for it, and again, I don’t close my hand, and they easily take it out of my hand.
Again, I say “No, TRY to take it out of my hand”
By this time, they are confused. How can you try to take something out of someones hand when they don’t make it difficult? All they are doing is just taking it out of my hand, when I told them to TRY to take it out.
Naturally, they are confused because they expected a struggle and hardship, but realizing that it’s more difficult to try to do something that should come easily to you.
“Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try” ~Yoda
Boyd
Hi Tim
I write this with great respect.
Your blog brings up many questions! Isn’t the knowledge of good and evil about “faking till you make it?” Have we not all been spiritually saved, our soul by faith is being saved, and yes at a future date our bodies will be redeemed? How about indwelling sin in our bodies that is not us anymore? Yes I sin and am a sinner in that respect, however how does God view all humanity and so where should our focus be? Is there a battle between the flesh and the Spirit and what does this mean? How did Jesus or Paul view this “Fake it till you make it”?
I am now like a little kid in a candy store and cannot get enough of the sweet things of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I am grateful for all the messages and blogs you have posted. John
Speaking of faking it till you make it, I started my own blogspot today called Boyd Merriman on Christianity.
Thought you might want to check it out.
Boyd
Hey Boyd, welcome to the blogging world! Looking forward to reading your thoughts there on a regular basis
Hey Everybody! Thanks for the feedback and participation while I was on the road traveling after writing this post.
Greg, Bonnie, and Boyd, thanks for the positive feedback!
John – good questions. I think I really do understand where you are coming from, and here is what I think you are grappling with:
In the first instance, because of who Jesus is (literally, in his humanity), all that it means to be human has been completely made new already. Therefore, it is true that we are new, right now, IN HIM.
In the second instance we must hold to the fact that we are not Jesus and he is not us. We strongly hold onto union, AND we just as strongly hold onto distinction. As it is with the Trinity, so it is with us, his creation. This is why we can at one and the same time say that we are utterly and completed saved in Jesus, and yet, still really sinners, but sinners who can see our real selves renewed in Jesus. Our time and space life is REAL in his realness, and our lives right now are not fake.
Does that help? (If you want to go deeper into understanding how we hold to distinction and union with and from Jesus, look up the terms anhypostasis and enhypostasis)
Peace, Love and Blessings!
Tim at his finest, as he always is…
Love you bro,
Craig.
Thanks Craig! I have been praying to the Father that I might share in more of the love I see in you! Love you too my friend!
BTW, I forgot to put the link to my blogspot in the main subject line, but it is in my name if click on it.
http://boydmerrimanchristianity.blogspot.com
Boyd
Anyone who truly believes, “Fake it till you make,” I ask that you place that at the door of your church, so that everyone coming can see that. It is a silly catch phrase for those who cannot grasp God’s simple truth. The truth that God knows it all already. Trying to work something is not faking. Faking is a lie and teaching the truth via a lie is not a place I’d like to study at. How about practice until you make it? The “fake it” catch phrase is so damaging to any new person who may be in the church looking for God’s truth.