An imposter?

November 12, 2007

By Jerry Scott

Ferdinand Waldo Demara was not content with being himself, nor would he apply himself to any course long enough to become what he wanted to be. Instead, he “borrowed” credentials and pretended to be what he was not. In his lifetime he stole many identities and worked, among other things, as a deputy sheriff, a counselor, an engineer, even a ship’s surgeon! His story was told in the book The Great Imposter.

Demara was a smart man, able to learn quickly, and wily enough to avoid detection in many of his jobs. Then his pride would get the best of him and he would seek publicity, which always led to his exposure as a fake. How sad he wasted his life in pretending. What might Demara have become if he had the integrity and endurance to get the right credentials for the jobs he craved?

Some people approach Christianity much like Demara approached life. They want to be a great Christian, and not necessarily just because of pride. They desire to be a loving, generous, pure, and holy person whose life honors God. But instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to nurture those qualities in them, they adopt the outer characteristics of some Christian they admire!

They learn to act and talk like their pastor, or their favorite TV preacher, or someone at church who impresses them. It’s all just pretense. Their hearts are not really transformed by the Spirit of God.

I’m not writing about true hypocrites — people who adopt religion to advance themselves or to impress others. I am writing about those who really believe being a follower of Christ means acting in some manner they have observed in others, who try to put on Christianity like a woman puts on make-up. It is a common deception. The truth is we become believers with a transformational experience that starts in the heart, changing our most basic ways of thinking.

Jesus calls it being born again of the Spirit (John 3:5-8).

Paul writes, “[God] saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5, NLT).

Don’t misunderstand the Word. There are spiritual disciplines to which we must apply ourselves as we develop maturity in godliness. We can and should learn many good things from those who are leading us. But we can never become a Christian from the outside in; it must always be inside out!

Are you attempting, by morality or discipline or even fakery, to be what only God, the Holy Spirit, can make you? Are you putting on layer upon layer of morality and religion in an attempt to be a Christian, a person who enjoys a relationship with God and who holds the promise of eternal life?

God can and will change you, but it is His work, a result of faith and the Spirit’s work.

“We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing” (Ephesians 2:9,10, The Message)

If you’re struggling to maintain a religious façade, turn to God. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life, the transformation will begin and you will be “transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV).

Jerry D. Scott is senior pastor of Washington (N.J.) Assembly of God.