Counterfeit Christians?

The prophet Jeremiah shared encouragement to walk in an authentic manner according to God's ways.  In chapter 17, we read:
7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

The indwelling nature of Christ will enable us to walk in a manner pleasing to Him - we can do all the right things, say the right words, and lead people to believe we are holy, when inside, we have not experienced the abundant life that God wants to give us through salvation.   Jesus cautioned the so-called religious leaders of his day about putting on a holy facade.   True holiness and righteousness comes through a right relationship with God and the appropriation of His cleansing power to the areas of our lives that are not in alignment with His plan for us.

Jesus taught about authentic Christianity in Matthew chapter 7:
13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The space allotted to display the Yahoo!  Trending topic basically revealed enough to show what looked like "counterfeit Christian".     Turns out that the real topic was a confiscation of over 20,000 counterfeit Christian Louboutin (lay-boo-tain) women's shoes over the last month by officials of Long Beach and Los Angeles, footwear with a potential retail value of $18 million, according to federal officials said Thursday, quoted by the Los Angeles Times. 

French designer Louboutin's high-end pumps and high heels feature a distinctive red sole.   During the last fiscal year, officials of Customs and Border Protection have made over 1000 seizures of merchandise at the L.A.-Long Beach port complex - that's an 18% increase from the previous year.

These smugglers and traffickers trick consumers into thinking they have purchased the genuine article - often at a huge discount.  Because of the thirst for profit, these deceivers resort to illegal activities.   And, fraud is prevalent in a number of spheres - just think of the schemes that are prevalent on the Internet.   Recently, there was a report about "food fraud", which could be dangerous to your health.

Back to the topic line I read - remember, I initially thought it said, "counterfeit Christian".   I do believe there is such a thing - someone may call himself or herself a Christian, attend church regularly, maybe even be involved in service, say all the right words, but a transformed heart is not part of the equation.   There may be people who will pose as Christian or at least religious, in order to earn trust, but only with the intent to deceive, and we have to be discerning in those instances.   Or, people may think they are Christian because of cultural definitions, or just doing what appears to be the right thing, but again, if Jesus is not present in their hearts, if they are not saved, they cannot be called a Christian - they are counterfeit. 

We have to be very cautious to live lives that are authentic before God and others.   Sometimes we may display the outward characteristics, but we are attempting to put on a facade, and our hearts are not there - we are going through the motions.   The true Christian life is expressed from the heart, from the inside out, as we allow Christ to live through us.