Faking It
“But Peter declared, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’ And all the other disciples said the same.”
Today’s Text: Matthew 26:26-35 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
Not long before my father passed, he told me something about our life here in the US that blew me away and made me laugh. My father came to the US with a family in tow as a PhD student who could barely speak English at Florida State University—and not in science, technology, engineering, or math, but in social welfare. That in itself gives you an idea of the kind of Peter-like personality my father had.
Obviously, when we arrived to the US, we were one of the very few Asians living in Tallahassee. Somehow, my father got connected with some people at the local YMCA, and they asked him if he could teach a class in judo—because, you know, he was Asian … he must know judo and ping pong and all that stuff. Now, my father was pretty well-built and sporty, but he didn’t know a lick of judo. But we needed the money, and so my father answered, “YES! I can teach a class in judo!”
And so, he taught a class in judo at the YMCA as a black belt while he himself was learning judo from a book he found at the library. My father admitted to me after all those years, “I didn’t know judo.”
It’s hard to blame him, though. He was just trying to provide for his family. And the assumptions that the people at the Y had about him made it easy to “fake it.” And he was teaching judo, which is what they asked for.
There’s a saying that goes, “fake it ‘til you make it.” The intent of that saying is not to promote dishonesty. The idea behind the saying is that we should do our very best in an assigned role that stretches our abilities and training, and we will learn as we grow into the role.
Strictly speaking, “fake it ‘til you make it” is how we grow into every new situation we encounter in our lives. Of course, we must never “fake it” with dishonest intent.
The greater problem though is when we “fake” ourselves out. And we tend to “fake” ourselves out in two ways: we either overestimate our resolve (like the disciples here), or we underestimate our abilities.
We overestimate our resolve when it becomes a habit to trust in ourselves too much. God has given us the ability to solve many things, but not everything. Understanding what we can solve and what we cannot solve requires humility and understanding. Some people get into the habit of over-trusting their own abilities too much, when really they just tend to be better than most people at getting what they want. Peter (and my father) probably fell into that category.
We underestimate ourselves when we don’t trust in God enough—or we just don’t want what God wants. When we don’t trust in God enough or if we just don’t want what God wants, it is manifested as “I can’t.” It’s not humility and understanding. It’s a lack of faith and obedience that comes across as a lack of wisdom.
Faith, obedience, and understanding is manifested in our lives in the following way: Doing whatever we can, as best as we can, according to God’s will revealed in His word, but knowing that God will do everything that we cannot do in order to accomplish His will revealed in His word.
In other words, life in the kingdom is to do everything we can in subordination to what only God can do and to know that is how it works. It’s not “faking it.” It’s faith, obedience, and understanding.
Father, Your ways are high above our ways, Your thoughts high above our thoughts. Forgive me whenever I trust in myself too much or don’t trust in You enough. Who am I that You would call me as Your servant. Thank You for calling me and thank You for being patient. Give me faith, obedience, and understanding to do Your will. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
