Judges 12

The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No," then they would say to him, "Then say, 'Shibboleth'!" And he would say, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.

(Jdg 12:5-6)

Betrayed by their speech, the Ephraimites were unable to disguise themselves from the Gileadites. These Ephraimites were pretending to be something that they weren’t in order to escape the judgment that awaited them. The Gileadites had developed a way to uncover the truth beneath their disguise. The simple fact is, pretending can only go so far. Eventually, a person’s true colors will show.

I am reminded of Peter when he denied being a disciple of Jesus. It was his speech that betrayed him there as well. In both of these stories you have people pretending to be something they are not. This kind of a solution is never permanent; you can only keep up the charade for so long before it comes crashing down.

I can remember times when I was younger that I would try and disguise who I was in order to impress people… it rarely worked. One time, in an attempt to impress an older girl, it did work. She actually seemed to like me! Then it dawned on me in a flash… “If I want her to keep liking me, I’m going to have to keep up this stupid charade FOREVER!” It scared me so bad! I thought to myself, “No girl is worth changing my personality over”. I realized just how awful it would be to live a lie… but it didn’t cure me. As I got older I began to pretend to be a lot of things I wasn’t, and to pretend to NOT be doing some things I was. Eventual, my cover was blown… my true colors came shining through! As difficult as that was, it was really the best thing that could have happened to me. The Lord doesn’t want people who look like Him on the outside but are all messed up on the inside. He wants people who are honest about their failures, and recognize their need for Him. He wants people whose hearts are turned towards Him!

My dad used to say to me, “You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool God ANYTIME”. This is so true! In light of this, I have one question for you: ARE YOU PRETENDING? Just how real is your Christian faith? Is it false? Is it just show to cover up what’s really going on? Or, do you have a real faith but hide it because you are afraid like Peter? Are you afraid to let the world know that you love Jesus? I pray that you would be sincere… that you would be real about who you are, and who the Lord is in your life. No room for hypocrisy, just humble faith in Jesus!