Real and Unreal
“That person is real!” I have heard that compliment many times about people. What is intended by it? It means that the person is not trying to make people believe something about them that is not true. This person is honest in his or her portrayal of self. They are real because they are not false. What you see is what you get!
“That was unreal!” I have heard that many times with respect to an event or show that was so outstanding that it was called unreal. Cirque du Soleil is something that I have said is unreal because it takes such talent and imagination to produce and that is not the norm for most people.
When something or someone is real, there is no deceit. When someone or something is unreal, it is not just saying that there is no deceit. It is that the presentation is so far above or beyond the person who is making the statement that they say, unreal. Both of these should be true of a Christian. They should be real—themselves—while being unreal, calling all people to a higher existence.
The Commit rally this year is about this very idea. They are using I Peter 2:9-17 for the main text because it calls Christians “peculiar people” (King James Version) or as the New King James Version says, “His own special people.”. This term is defined by the terms listed immediately before: “chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation”. Peter writes that Christians are peculiar because they are God’s special people. This makes them both real and unreal. Notice how he says this.
God identifies what real Christians are. They really are a chosen generation because they have accepted His offer to be identified outside of the physical generation of people. They really are a royal priesthood because they have special access to God in a way that people in the world do not. They really are a holy nation having taken the challenge to be holy or set apart from the world in which they live.
The effect of Christians living as real people should bring about the acknowledgement that they are unreal! They are unreal because they fight the fleshly lusts that challenge all people (verse 11). They are unreal because they respond with good works to those who have called them evildoers (verse 12). They are submissive to the government even when they do not agree with everything they do (verse 13-14).
What is the effect of real Christians living unreal lives? They will cause others to “glorify God in the day of visitation” (verse 12). They will “put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (verse 15). They will use their freedom properly and not as “a cloak for vice” (verse 16). Finally, notice how Peter closes this discussion. Real Christians live unreal lives when they honor all people whom God created, when they love God’s special creation—the brotherhood, when they fear the Creator, and when they honor God’s created authority in their lives.
— Mike Johnson
