Second in a two-part series about building an authentic relationship with Christ.
“Paper or plastic?”
You hear that question from the cashier when she asks you to choose bags for your groceries.
But it can also refer to your relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you prefer paper or plastic? A paper relationship with Christ can be shallow and superficial. But what about plastic?
Plastic Is Versatile … and Artificial
Plastics are manufactured, derived from polymers – long chemical compounds which are shaped and formed into a desired product.
Additives can further alter a plastic’s color, texture, and appearance. Changeability makes plastic adaptable to almost unlimited circumstances.
Because plastics are versatile and easy to make, they have come to replace many traditional materials in construction, electronics, security systems, autos, household items, and packaging.
What Does a Plastic Relationship With Christ Look Like?
universality means that it is everywhere, both literally and figuratively…as in the “plastic smiles” on the faces around you.
Like other plastic materials, a plastic smile is artificial. You see it when people put on a good front, pretending to be happy or fulfilled or close to God even when they’re not. A plastic smile conceals what is happening with you. You can pin one on to prevent others from seeing the truth, but that same artificiality can also lead them to believe something about you that isn’t real. A plastic smile can be deceptive.
On a spiritual level, your relationship with Jesus may be like a plastic smile. Do you put up a good front to others, pretending to be close to Him or deliberately misdirecting them? Maybe your spiritual plasticity even conceals the truth from yourself. Or perhaps your plastic relationship with Jesus simply keeps Him at arm’s length and prevents His access to your heart.
There are at least two problems with a plastic relationship with God. First, He sees through the veneer and hungers for authenticity with you. And second, plastic is not alive. Manufactured materials don’t grow or reproduce or affect change. They are not God’s living stones.
Build a Living Relationship
Plastic recycles easily. You can take plastic bottles to the recycling center to be remade and you can plaster plastic over your spirituality again and again. But when recycled, plastic’s fundamental construction does not change. It is still artificial.
But you can re-constitute plastic another way. Though plastic doesn’t break down quickly in landfills, it melts easily – especially when exposed to light. While wood, grass and food scraps decompose through biodegradation (meaning they’re transformed by bacteria), plastic decomposes by photo degradation (which requires sunlight, not bacteria.) When UV rays strike plastic, they break the bonds holding the long molecular chain together.
That’s good news if you’re struggling with a bit of plastic in your relationship with Christ.
“Everything exposed by the light becomes visible” (Ephesians 5:13, NIV). The Light of the World, personified in Jesus and given to us in God’s Word, can reveal artificialities. When you expose a plastic spiritual veneer to light, its bonds break. Truth tears back what was artificial and manufactured in your relationship with Christ.
You’re left with what is authentic and alive – living stones, which are what God uses to build His Kingdom (1 Peter 2:4). Living stones are the genuine article.
Paper or plastic – which should you choose in your relationship with Christ? Neither.
