1 Timothy 1:5
“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:”
I was preaching with a friend of mine and heard him tell a story about a trip he took to a foreign country. He said while he was there he went to the market to see the goods they sold. While he was looking, he came across a watch that was looked exactly like a Rolex watch, but they called it a Bolex. After bargaining with them for a few minutes, he ended up paying five dollars for the watch.
He told how he was so proud of the watch. Everywhere he went he showed people his Bolex watch. He said while he was teaching Sunday school one day, he clapped his hands together and his watch fell apart. He told how he bent over and picked up the pieces of the watch and was saddened that it would no longer work. He told the audience that he learned a valuable lesson that day that counterfeit products are never as good as the real thing.
When it comes to our Christianity, God doesn’t want us to be a Bolex watch, but He wants us to be the real thing. In the verse above, Paul pointed out that God wants us to have faith that is “unfeigned.” Unfeigned faith is a genuine faith. There is nothing counterfeit about unfeigned faith. The good thing about an unfeigned faith is that it won’t fall apart at the most inopportune time. An unfeigned faith is a faith that can be trusted at any time, for it is real.
We must be very careful about having a counterfeit Christianity. What I mean by this statement is that God doesn’t want us to put on a show just because we are in front of people. God wants our Christianity to be such that no matter where we are, it is always the same. A faith that is genuine is a transparent faith. There is nothing to hide with a genuine faith. It doesn’t matter when you find a person who has a genuine faith, they are the same all the time. Unfeigned faith is always the same whether in the house or at church.
Let me ask you, do you have Bolex Christianity? Is your faith one way in public but another way in private? Friend, Bolex Christianity will leave people disgusted with our product. Maybe the reason we are not producing fruit is because we have too many Bolex Christians. When people see that the only time we are real is when we are in public, then they will quickly become disenchanted with our product.
Let me challenge you to lay aside Bolex Christianity and become real. Realize that your faith is always on display no matter where you go. 1 Corinthians 4:9 says, “For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” You may think no one is watching you, but there is someone who is trying to determine whether you have Bolex Christianity or an unfeigned faith.
The greatest challenge will be with your family. Your family truly knows whether you are a Bolex Christian or a Christian whose faith is unfeigned. They see if the Christian life is what you are all the time or if it’s only for show. If you want your children to serve the LORD once they leave home, then you need to lay aside the Bolex Christianity.
Always remember that Bolex Christianity may work for awhile, but it will eventually fall apart. You will find that it falls apart at the very moment you need it to stay together. If you want to avoid being a Bolex Christian, then just be the same at all times. Be a Christian at church, at home and in public. Unfeigned faith will not fall apart and will influence the most people for Jesus Christ.