Fake Flowers are a Little Like Fake Religion

Something you may not know about me is that I love flowers. Not only do I love flowers but I know a little something about them. My husband and I have owned a landscaping company for 36 years now and one of my responsibilities is ordering and organizing the flowers we plant for our customers. All that to say…

I notice if something isn’t right when it comes to flowers.

For example…

This past weekend our family went to a little amusement park that is nearby. The park was clean and the grandchildren had a fun day as the park was perfect for them and geared toward their ages (7 and under). And, in fact, we adults had a wonderful day just watching them!

However, shortly after we walked into the park, I noticed something strange. There were flowers I had never seen before. I had certainly never planted anything that looked even remotely similar and, upon closer inspection, I noticed they looked rather…odd.

I bent down to investigate further and that is when I realized that they had taken artificial, plastic flowers and stuck them in the ground. One wasn’t even in the ground and the entire thing was lying forlornly in the middle of the bed. I picked it up with disgust and showed it to my husband. What self-respecting amusement park would use fake flowers?!? I was flabbergasted.

We talked about how those fake flowers would be easier to care for, for sure. They would require no watering, no maintenance, no extra hassles.

Yes… but… they weren’t real.

But, looking around, I realized that no one else seemed to care. In fact, most people didn’t even notice those fake flowers at all.

So why did I notice? And why did I care?

I noticed because I love flowers and I know a little something about them. And so when something doesn’t look right, I see it. But most people don’t care all that much about flowers and know even less about them and so, quite naturally, they didn’t care at all about this. And that’s okay. No criticism from me on that point. We all have our different interests.

Oh, but what a perfect analogy…!

We believers are walking through the amusement park of this life. We love God and we love His Word and when something is off we should notice. We should care.

So why do few who call themselves Christians care? Why does very obvious fake religion and false doctrine escape their notice? There are a few reasons that come to mind…

First, we are so easily distracted. We get caught up in life and its responsibilities and we are tired. Too tired to worry about if what the coworker said is true or if that movie our kids want to watch is something we should actually be watching. Just like people walked on by those fake flowers because their kids are complaining or they are purposefully headed to that show before it starts, so we, too, get distracted and miss what’s right in front of us.

Second, we say we love God but often, by our actions, we show that we love self more. We tend to look out for number one. So, although we do truly want to live for God, it is sometimes hard to make obeying Him our first priority. So while we say we love Him with our lips, our hearts are on our own agendas and dreams and certainly not on God’s Word and Will for our lives.

Third, the cost is often higher than we want to pay. For me to stop and point out those fake flowers may have caused an eye roll or two but it didn’t cost me anything that really hurt. However, when you start recognizing the amount of false teaching out there and share with those who are fellow siblings in Christ, we usually pay a high price. It is usually much easier to walk right by that fake religion and pretend it’s not there. Even if we notice it.

Fourth, we can be encumbered by that ugly nemesis of pride. Pride blinds us to what is right in front of us. It keeps us from seeing the truth because we assume we already know the truth. It keeps us from humbly searching for the truth by comparing all things to scripture as we are commanded to do (I Thess. 5:21) because we think we already know it all.

Fifth, there are many false converts. The first four reasons apply to genuine believers who are at various stages in their faith. We must have much grace for our brothers and sisters in Christ because we are all at different places on our journeys. But there are some who claim to be part of our family in Christ who just…aren’t.

Someone may say they love flowers and, yet, by their actions, show a complete and utter lack of interest in flowers. From this we can assume they don’t really love flowers at all but they are just saying that for some reason known only to them. And so it goes with people and God. So many say they love Him but, by their actions, they show they really do not care about Him at all. And so to walk by false doctrine–or even to embrace it– is quite natural for them because they were never regenerated to begin with!

But, of course, we can’t know who these false converts are. And we shouldn’t even try to pick them out. We just need to be aware that this may be the case for that person that shows no interest in God and His Word and is completely lacking in fruit. Don’t judge their salvation because only God knows if they are saved or not. But DO pray for them. And DO pray and ask God to give you opportunity to have conversations with them that point them to Him and His Holy Word.

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Just as those fake flowers were easier for me to spot because I love and know flowers, so, too, is false teaching easier to spot when we begin to truly love and know God and His Word. For it is there that we begin to understand what is true and what is false.

So if you want to easily spot fake flowers, learn to love and know flowers. And if you want to spot false teaching (or to even care about it being such an affront to our Holy and Perfect God), then learn to love and know your God and His Word.