Have you ever pretended to be something that you weren’t? Have you ever lied about your age? Exaggerated your job skills? Stretched the truth on a date?

As Pastor Ronn pointed out in this week’s message, “Deceitful or Authentic”, trying to be something you’re not will always catch up with you eventually.

It caught up with Jeroboam, the subject of the sermon this week from I Kings 14:1-20. Jeroboam’s son, Abijah, was sick and he wanted to hear some positive news from the prophet Ahijah. So, he sent his wife, dressed in a disguise, to visit the elderly prophet.

When Jeroboam’s wife arrived, she got a shock. The prophet was blind and couldn’t even see her disguise. Yet he called out to her: “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news.”

The prophet said the Lord has told him that because he had worshiped other gods and done evil, that the Lord would bring disaster on his house.

The story was a great reminder about the two choices we need to make. We need to choose authenticity over deception. And we need to choose God’s way over our own way.

Jeroboam wanted his own way, but he was unwilling to do what God had asked him to do. How many times in life do we want our own way without the pay?

Did God speak to you this week about an area of your life where you are trying to gain the reward without doing what you need to do? Are you wishing you had a strong family unit without spending time together? Or a strong marriage without dating your spouse? Maybe you want to hear from the Lord, but you aren’t spending time in His Word?

We would love to hear how God is calling you to be more real in your life.