Imitation is Not Enough

Have you ever eaten imitation food? A dish or product that claimed to be the real thing, but as soon as you tasted the first bite, you knew? The look might have been perfected, but the taste gave it away. A few of my dairy-free friends have tried to convince me that non-dairy cheese tastes just like real cheese. Let me just say, it may have some similarities, but the taste is far from the delicious, fattening goodness made from real milk.

Whether it is imitation clothing, accessories, food, or even impersonating people if you look close enough you know it’s not the real deal. While I will admit, some imitations are a lot harder to notice or pick up on, at the end of the day, if you know the real product or person, you will always recognize the fake.

While we know this is true, so many of us try to live the Christian life by imitation. We focus on doing and saying the right things, but we are really just like the imitation food, far from the original. Jesus explained it to His followers this way, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NASB) If you are trying to produce a Christian walk on your own, it is just that, a production. Real authentic life flows out of Jesus.

Some people decorate their homes with plastic or wooden fruit. It sits on a table in a bowl looking pretty, but at the end of the day, no one can eat that fruit. In fact, you cannot even bite into it. There are many Christians who are just like that bowl of fruit; they have manufactured an imitation that can never serve the purpose of real fruit.

From a distance you can recognize that some fake fruit is only cheap plastic, while other types are so realistic looking you don’t know until you touch it. When it comes to the Christian walk, how can you tell the difference between real fruit and imitation fruit? First, real fruit comes through Jesus. Out of our relationship with Jesus, we see character traits and actions we could never manufacture on our own. It is not mustered up obedience, but rather an outpouring of what is happening inside of us.

Second, real fruit is nourishing to others. It is life-giving. Real fruit has true flavor and it blesses the people around us. If you are wondering if your life is producing good fruit, ask yourself the question, what kind of impact does my life have? Do I build up, refresh, and love others? Does what is happening in my relationship with God overflow my life in a way that others benefit from it?

Take an inventory. What is your life producing? Is it full of good, life-giving fruit or is it simply an imitation? God can do so much more through you than you ever can do on your own, but you have to abide in Him. He has to be the source.

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Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:4-5 NASB

My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
John 15:8 NASB

You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
Matthew 7:16-17 NASB