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Finding Your Real Life

                 When I was 10 years old, I spent much of my time pretending to be someone else.  When I played road hockey, I was Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Mike Palmateer.  When I played football, I was Saskatchewan Roughrider safety Ken McEachern.  When I rode my bike, I was racing legend A. J. Foyt. 
                Pretending you are someone else when you are a kid is fun.   Pretending to be someone else when you are an adult is lonely and isolating. 
                Rather than be who we really are, we adopt personas so that we seem more impressive to others.  Instead of talking about how we really feel, it is tempting to put on the “I am fine” mask and keep everyone else out.  Outward appearances do not always match up with what is going on inside of us.
                Such is the case with the rich, young ruler (Mark 10).  He looked good from afar.  He seemed to be in control of his life.  However, just below the surface, something was wrong.
                Seeking something that he did not have, the man “ran up to him [Jesus] and fell on his knees” (verse 17) before asking for help.  Jesus makes him an offer.  He says, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor… then come follow me!” (verse 21).  We often argue about why he was told to sell everything, but in doing so we miss the point.  The focus is not on the selling, but on the “come follow me!”  Jesus is offering him a chance to start over.  What he had been chasing had not made him happy, so leave it behind and go after something that will bring joy and fulfillment. 
                This is the same offer that is made to Nicodemus.  He is missing something too, so Jesus’ advice is, “Be born again!” (John 3:3).  Start over!  Give up your pretence of holiness and get real. Put away the fake relationship that you have with God and develop a real one!
                The message of the church is that, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us this ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19).  The way home has been provided. 
                Your real life starts when you are brave enough to stop pretending.

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