Today, our house went on the market.  We have lived in this house since April of 2009.  It has been a great home to us.  Josie learned how to do so many things here.  We’ll forever have memories of our lives on Coopers Post Lane.  The great thing about our home – its been lived in and loved.  When you walked into our house, you would see photos of family and friends, you would see Josie’s toys on the floor, you would see Christian verses on the wall, and you would smell something cooking in the oven.

So imagine if you would, how hard it has been the past few days getting ready to sell the home.  Since we have a bit of a time crunch on our hands, we decided to pay a little extra money and stage the home.  This is a common tactic and works very well.  Our realtor says she has much better results when a client will stage their home.  She recommended a lady, we hired her, and she came on Saturday to “stage” our home.  When she walked in the door, she was full of life, and told us in the most cheerful way “After I’m done today, you’ll hate me, but your home will sell if you let me do my job”…and it began.  She started taking pictures off the wall, moving things around, telling us that our home didn’t look like a “model” home.  She said buyers want to see it as a model home, not as a home that’s lived in.  That’s a challenge, because until we move, we still have to live there!

Our home now looks similar, but different than it has the past few years.  Josie can’t have toys out, I had to move my La-Z-Boy Recliner to the hall, we have to have place settings out all the time on the table so it looks like we’re always ready to have dinner, all in all…things are just not who we really are, but I have to tell you, it looks good.  When the photographer came to take the photos, I couldn’t believe it was our house.

The problem is that is not how we live.  Its a burden to always have everything looking “phony but real”.  For someone looking to buy a home, they will walk in and think it looks wonderful.  For someone living there, we sit there and think “this looks silly…no one would live like this”, and that’s the point.  No one would live like that, but the way it has been staged is set up to feature the best parts of our home and draw your eyes to those features.

I stop and think about how this works in our lives.  I try my hardest not to hide anything about who I am.  I am not perfect by any means, and if I tried to make people think I was perfect, that would take a lot more effort than its worthy.  How tiring would it be to always have to pretend to be someone you’re really not?  Its so much easier just to live your life truthfully to everyone, so they can always know who they get when they see you.  Don’t be one way in front of your church family, and a different way in front of your work family.  Eventually, the two sides may meet, and one of them is going to see your “fake” side.  Wouldn’t it just be easier to be true to yourself and to them all the time?

I don’t want people to see me and think, “I wonder if he’s being genuine, or if he’s just being that way to make me think he’s a Christian”.  True Christianity can’t be taken off.  It can’t be hidden, and it can’t be taken away.  Its who you are.  Its not a model home to show off, and once the people looking are gone you get back to living your normal life.  Its a 24/7 life that God has called us to live.  So which are you living?  A life of Model Christianity or True Christianity?