Fake?

I bought 2 cartons of flavoured milk today - one banana flavoured and one strawberry. While I was drinking it, I was also reading what they've got to say about the product on the side and this is what they wrote:

"At Goulbourn Valley Dairy our aim is simple.. we start with the goodness of fresh milk then add delicious ingredients! Golbourn Valley Dairy Co milk remind us how flavoured milk should be. No artificial colours or flavours 98% fat free."

As I was reading it, i thought to myself - "no wonder it taste weird, i think i prefer the fake milk better - they're much more tastier and sweeter and they look much more attractive too!"

Probably, the reason why I thought this way is because I've been drinking "fake flavoured milk" ever since I was young. When I first came to Australia - cheese and milk taste disgusting - because they're real. But as I eat them more frequently - I began to appreciate real milk and cheese because as I taste them over and over again, I get to taste the difference between real and fake food. And surely, although they may take a while to get used to, they do taste a whole lot better.

Now when I ate "fake cheese" I can taste the difference and somehow I can taste the many chemicals that they added in it, and surely I don't want to go back to eating them again (if i can help it).

But why do people continue to buy fake stuff?

Simply because fake stuff are often (or most of the time)cheaper. They are more interesting in terms of flavours/colours and packaging(i said interesting not better). And for most of all - they are sufficient enough. I mean I would rather buy a 20 dollars LV bag rather than 2000 dollars one - because as long as it has the logo LV and looks similar to it - why would I want the real one? It's simply inefficient and a waste of money if I do.

The Christian life is like that isn't it?

I'm not saying that the life that we live before we were saved is fake. but i am saying that we used to live a life full of lies. As the writer of Ephesians puts it, without God, we are just walking corpses trying to find a substitute for life that we don't have. So we fill the holes with "artificial" things because we don't know what's meant to be in it. We don't know what "real" looks like in our life. And sometimes these "artificial" things do give us meaning, but the thing is - it doesn't last. Because they're fake. So when the effect is gone, we look for another one to do the trick. And the more fake stuff we take - the more we need, simply because they're fake and they don't last (to redundantly repeat myself).

but the thing is, we stop. We stop desiring for the things that are real. Because not only are there a lot more options for fake stuff out there - we know that fake stuff cost cheaper and they sometimes works "better" than the real one (for a short time).

That's exactly why God Himself needs to come down and call us personally. Because we are blinded by fake stuff. Not only we don't want to find Him - we can't! Just like the strawberry milk that i usually drank. It gets to the point where the fake becomes real and the real becomes fake and unpleasant.

So it takes time to get used to living as a Christian doesn't it? It's hard - full of struggles and constant failing and mistakes. It is hard and sometimes it is impossible. Especially when the only hint and help that God gave us is: "Trust in Me". I mean that's what it means to have faith, to endure and to persevere isn't it? That's the command that God gave us in the writings of the Scripture. "keep the good fight!" Paul says and "But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." he says elsewhere. Why is that?

Because it's so easy to be lazy and stop trusting God. To say to ourselves "all these suffering and enduring is useless and worthless to me - why should i continue?"

But trust God - and trust me - when you get to taste the REAL stuff- you wouldn't want to go back. When you taste the REAL stuff - even in constant suffering you can still be joyful and at peace.

So keep on persevering, persevere in knowing more about God and His goodness and mercy. Persevere in knowing more of His will and to do them faithfully. Persevere in your life as a child of God. Know the wonderful gift that you have in you - that you have something much greater than what the world can give and never let go of that treasure - which is the Gospel.

So keep on persevering, persevere in knowing more about God and His goodness and mercy. Persevere in knowing more of His will and to do them faithfully. Persevere in your life as a child of God. Know the wonderful gift that you have in you - that you have something much greater than what the world can give and never let go of that treasure - which is the Gospel.

and yeah.. who knows - maybe i will eventually get to like Gouldbourn Valley's "real" milk.. but i doubt it... cos' it's quite expensive - so i'll stick with tap water for now

Pray:

-God please help us to persevere in knowing what is good and true - because we have been living in a world full of lies. We know that we live in a world full of reverse - where good is bad and bad is good. So give us wisdom to know which one is which and to trust that good is good and bad is bad.