{"id":3650,"date":"2016-09-18T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-09-18T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=3650"},"modified":"2016-09-17T19:00:28","modified_gmt":"2016-09-18T00:00:28","slug":"choose-to-look-for-the-real-deal-not-a-look-a-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=3650","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Look for the “Real Deal,” Not a Look-a-LIke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another Year of Choices<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Look-a-Like<\/em>
\nThey say everyone has a \u201cdoppelganger,\u201d an exact double, somewhere. Imagine it \u2013 a person who looks just like you.<\/p>\n

When I was in line at a salad bar a few years ago, a man came beside me and asked if I liked my new roof. I looked perplexed. He said, \u201cRemember me? I\u2019m John! I\u2019m the one who put the new roof on your house.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUm,\u201d I said. \u201cI think you have me mixed up with someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must be kidding,\u201d he answered in disbelief. I assured him it wasn\u2019t me. \u201cAre you a twin?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo! There\u2019s just one of me,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, there\u2019s someone else who looks exactly like you,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n

To which I replied, \u201cYou must be kidding!\u201d<\/p>\n

So there is someone out there who looks exactly like me. What a scary thought! I\u2019m not sure whether to think \u201cWhat a lucky girl!\u201d or try to send her a sympathy card.<\/p>\n

Many people make a living looking like others. Look-a-like celebrities are hired for parties, events, and variety shows. They look, talk, sing, dance, and act like their celebrity counterparts, but there is one difference. They are not the \u201creal deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Elvis<\/p>\n

We also have look-a-like contests for everyone from the Beatles to Dolly Parton to Hannah Montana to Cap’n Jack Sparrow. If Elvis knew how many look-a-likes he has running around, he’d rise from his grave and have a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. There’s even a “Do You Look Like Your Dog” contest. I don’t even want to think about that one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Charlie<\/p>\n

Look-a-like contests can be tricking depending\u00a0on who judges them. Take for example the Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contests from years gone by. As silent movie star Chaplin\u2019s popularity grew around 1915, so did look-a-like competitions to see who could imitate his \u201ctramp\u201d character from his movies. Chaplin was fascinated by these contests, so he decided to enter one in San Francisco. According to Joyce Milton\u2019s biography <\/span>Tramp: The Life of Charlie Chaplin,\u00a0<\/em>he failed to even make the finals. It\u2019s pretty sad when you don\u2019t even look like yourself. He was the \u201creal deal\u201d but the judges couldn\u2019t see it. They had preconceived ideas about what the real Chaplin should look like. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What if we were to judge a Look-A-Like Christian contest? Would we be able to tell the real ones from all the others? After all, they aren\u2019t all walking around with golden halos over their heads. Plus, we all have pre-conceived ideas of how Christians should look and act, based on what we have been taught.<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026 When Jesus came to earth, people didn\u2019t recognize Him because He didn\u2019t act or look like their preconceived idea of the Son of God. In the eyes of the world, He was the illegitimate son of a carpenter. He drank wine, ate with sinners, broke certain Jewish laws, got angry occasionally and, to be honest, ticked off a lot of people. By today\u2019s Christian standards, Jesus might be like Charlie Chaplin \u2013 and not even make the finals. Jesus was the \u201creal deal\u201d but few could see it.<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s why the Bible says to guard against being quick to form opinions about others. After all, we might be forming them based on bias or preconceived ideas.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true Christians should all be \u201cdoppelgangers\u201d in reflecting the light and love of Christ, they do not all reflect it in the same way. They aren\u2019t carbon copies of each other. The most righteous person in the room might not be the pious one reciting scriptures and preaching, \u201cRepent, ye sinner!\u201d He might be laughing, drinking a beer, and yelling \u201cBingo!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Critical<\/p>\n

Suggestions for practicing this choice\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Try not to be critical of others. Give people the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n

Extend grace, not judgment or condemnation to others.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect all Christians to look alike, act alike, think alike, talk alike, dress alike, etc. God did not intend for Christians to all be yellow pencils or cut from the same cookie cutter. Another Christian\u2019s differing opinion on a topic may be just as valid as yours.<\/p>\n

Guard against setting up your own standard of righteousness instead of God\u2019s. That\u2019s what the Pharisees did.<\/p>\n

Remember that we are all a work in progress \u2013 not the finished product.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another Year of Choices By Barbara Dahlgren \u00a0 They say everyone has a \u201cdoppelganger,\u201d an exact double, somewhere. Imagine it \u2013 a person who looks just like you. When I was in line at a salad bar a few years … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}