Playing pretend is so much fun……especially with a precious three-year-old, and so when Clementine and I were playing pretend at her Gran and Pop’s new house on Saturday, the time of play became (most definitely) the best part of my day.
“Clementine, run to the pantry and get us a snack of some bread and peanut butter,” I exclaimed as we stood together on the subfloor, among the studded walls.
At my request, Clementine ran from the living room, across the kitchen, and into the studded, open pantry space, where she then mimicked the process of taking bread and peanut butter from the pantry shelves as her three-year-old hands pretended to pick up a loaf of bread and a jar of Jif.
“Clementine, I want some grapes. Do you want to see if Gran has any in her refrigerator?” I asked her as we “pretended” to sit at the “pretend” dining room table. Clementine and I then ran across the subfloor of the home under construction, over to where the “pretend” refrigerator sat, where we opened the “pretend” refrigerator door, and took out some “pretend” grapes to “pretend” eat.

Such fun!!!!! Playing “PRETEND” with a beautiful little girl on a sunny Saturday. (I must admit….my favorite part was standing in Gran & Pop’s future bedroom as Clementine and I jumped and giggled on Gran and Pop’s “pretend” bed.)

Playing Pretend.  Fun Times, but can we become “REALLY FILLED” with luscious, sweet grapes whenever we “pretend-eat” our “pretend” grapes from a “pretend” refrigerator?

My grandma had a REAL grape arbor right outside her back door, and as a kid, I loved it. Those grapes were the sweetest grapes–EVER!!  So, it was not uncommon when mom sent one of us to the cellar for a bucket of potatoes and two jars of canned green beans, that we didn’t grab a few grapes to eat on the way. Once we parked the vehicle, we walked right past the grape arbor on our walk from the car to the cellar.
Truly, there is nothing any sweeter than a handful of warm grapes, REAL GRAPES plucked from the REAL GRAPE ARBOR as we walked from the car to the cellar and then a second cluster plucked on the return walk to our family vehicle parked in grandma’s driveway.

As I grew up, years passed by, and dad planted “a shoot” (a start) of Grandma’s grape arbor in our back yard. Now those wonderfully sweet grapes would be enjoyed at two separate locations.
Fast forward 20+ years.
See grandma’s house and grape arbor gone….taken away by a bulldozer.
See dad passed away & now see mom’s yard filled with a still-healthy, thriving grape arbor (the same grape arbor that dad once planted in the yard as a “shoot” taken from grandma’s grape arbor).
See Nancy’s back yard….and see no sign of a grape arbor.
Let’s be clear.  It’s not because of lack of effort.  I followed dad’s instructions precisely (or so I thought).
1. Cut off “a shoot” from a thriving arbor.
2. Dip into growth start.
3. Place the “shoot” into a container filled with rich soil & nutrients.
4. Faithfully water daily and wait as the “shoot” takes root.
5. Take the “shoot,” now laden with roots protruding down from the original “shoot,” and transplant into the soil, into its permanent backyard location.
6. Watch the new “shoot” grow into a vine that takes shape into a grape arbor, continually staking as it grows to maturity.
7. As it grows stronger each year, the new grape arbor, transplanted from the parent-vine produces grapes to eat and enjoy. 

Now, if we were to walk together through my back yard today, we would just be playing “pretend” as we stopped to pluck a cluster of grapes and “pretend” to chew these sweet grapes because a transplanted “shoot” of dad’s grape arbor, the same one transplanted from grandma’s grape arbor will NEVER produce luscious grapes!!!! WHY, might we ask? It’s because the grape arbor does not exist in my back yard. We would only “pretend” to pluck grapes, and we would never place a “REAL” grape into our mouth. We would only “pretend” to eat those sweet, delicious grapes from a “pretend” grape arbor.
PRETEND.

Every time I attempted to follow my dad’s instructions about transplanting “a shoot” of Grandma’s grapes into my yard, the “shoot” never took root. It is a proven fact: Dead roots never produce luscious fruit.
NEVER.

Can that same concept apply to the believer’s walk, that of a Christian?
Do others see our behaviors on Sunday, seeing one behavior, but then on Monday, when we are out in the REAL world, they see a “PRETEND” Christian?

What does God’s Holy Word say about playing pretend (with our Christian walk)?
The apostle Paul wrote to the faithful Christians at Colossae, a letter to guide their walk with Christ Jesus, a letter sent to encourage them and to provide guidance to the body of believers who were faced with the REALITY of living as separate, even as they lived among others who did not yet believe in God.   Inspired by God’s Holy Spirit, Paul wrote to these early Christians encouraging them to remain stable and disciplined and faithful.

How is this possible?   We might ask.

• We BELIEVE in GOD’S existence. 
• We ACCEPT GOD’S gift of GRACE provided for us through the resurrection of JESUS, THE SON of GOD.
• We RECEIVE the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD immediately who helps us to grow as we become “firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude” (7).
• We simply allow our spiritual roots to grow down into God’s goodness.
• We simply set aside time daily to study God’s Word. 
• We simply send time down upon our knees as we take our needs to God, remaining in a constant conversation with God.
• We simply trust God.

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied to the Israelites in the Old Testament days, proclaiming a similar spiritual growth.

In order to grow in our spiritual maturity, we need daily, spiritual nourishment directly from God’s Word.  Through our intimate, individual, daily time with God (as well as our collective, corporate worship with other believers), our spiritual “shoot” begins to take root, to grow into God, as we are guided by the LORD’S wisdom and as we learn more and more and more about His Holiness discovered through our study His Word.
Without daily nourishment of God’s Word, we cannot bear fruit.
Let us not “pretend” any longer, but let us become serious about our fruit-bearing.
Let us not “pretend” any longer, but let us become serious about our Christian walk.

Others are watching. & Others are reading God’s Holy Word through our lives.
May be ever-mindful to not “pretend-play” anymore within our Christian walk; rather LET US BE THE REAL CHRISTIANS GOD CALLS US TO BE.