Telling the Difference

Have you ever worked with trash bags? I know that I have. Holding the office of "janitor" for several years now, I have torn off, emptied, thrown away, and replaced more than my fair share of trash bags!

Sometimes, the job is easy. There's not too much trash in the existing bag, it easily comes out of the can in a snap, and the new bag opens with no problems, lightly settling down "just so" in the trash can. But sometimes the job is not so ideal. Too much trash has been stuffed in the bag, there's yucky food, smelly diapers, or (worse!) standing water. Sometimes, the bag is so stuffed I can hardly heave-ho it out of the trash can! Other times, it's so bad that I have to go solicit help so I can achieve my chore! And then--nightmares of nightmares--those big, over-stuffed bags were brake, and a dam of water and trash will brake. I'm not complaining, but guess who has the privilege of cleaning it up? :D

However, how hard it is to get the bag out of the can is not the only problem I have. All my big, black trash bags come on a roll. I lay the roll out on the floor or table, and then roll it out, until the needed number of bags have been unrolled. Problem is, sometimes it's hard to know where one bag ends and another begins! Since those bags have been rolled up for so long, the imprint of the tear-off point had been imprinted on several parts of the bag, whether or not they are the true tear-off point! Sometimes I will mistake a fake tear-off point for an authentic one, but when I try to tear it off nothing happens!

You know, I've been thinking about this genuine vs. fake idea a lot lately. It's not just a silly matter--in the spiritual realm, it has profound (and eternal) consequences. Jesus talks about that very matter, and how when His coming gets close, false Christs and prophets will appear:

"For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible." (Matthew 24:24)

So how can we make sure that we are not fooled by these false Christs and prophets, and that we can without error discern the real from the fake? The answer's easy, though the implication isn't fast. To discern who is the Real Christ, we need to get to know the Real Christ. We need to have a relationship with Him--pray to Him, and read His Word, too. That's how we can discern truthfully who's the Real Christ--by knowing Him ahead of time.

As for me and my trash bag dilemma, I've got it solved. Being a janitor for several years know, I've learned how to tell apart the real tear-off point from the imprint. But this spiritual matter is much more serious--could you tell the difference between the Real Christ and the fake and false ones?