Let's continue reflecting on the life of Cornelius. As Pastor Benji shared on Sunday, and as we mentioned yesterday, Cornelius (prior to his encounter with Simon Peter) was sort of the poster child for the fake Christian. Everything looked great from the outside, but the Spirit of Jesus was not resident in him. And, in spite of his goodness, Cornelius needed intervention from God to transform his household.
As we learned last year in the parable of the wheat and the tares, often we have no idea who is authentically Christian and who is counterfeit. And, Jesus tells us it's not our job to pull up the tares: He will send an angel to do that at the appropriate time (see the blogs from September 23 through 27, 2008 for more on the subject).
Today's title recalls for me a concept used by some retail outlets. Instead of using the true name for the product, a fancy name is presented to entice the consumer. It's like a diamond, but not exactly... it's diamond-esque. It smells like an apple, but it's not really an apple... it's apple essence.
Well, that doesn't work for a community of believers. "Christ-esque" will not be a satisfatory answer on the day of God's judgement.
Have you received Jesus as your Savior?
Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?
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