Last night I had a dream about being a spy. I thought to myself that I seem to have a lot of spy dreams like that. About being a spy or being in enemy territories. I wondered why. I thought perhaps being a spy is a way of reaching people. But Jesus was not a spy. He was a man of no reputation. People often did not even know who He was. He had to tell the soldiers who He was in the garden. (So maybe it is not about being a spy but hidden in Him.)

As I meditated more and more upon this thought, I thought of who I “really am” or more importantly who I “belong” to.I grew up in a generation of “real stuff.” I was born in a time where processing was only kicking in and things began to no longer be identifiable. I grew up with “Classic Coke” when it was just Coke and was the “real thing.” I watched a season in American life where everything was clear in their appearance from soaps to soda. I like “real” or original generation food. I like whole chicken or whole turkey. I like original Coke. I do not mind technology except for its infringement on my life style.

I thought so many utilize the phrase “keeping it real.” What does that mean? The origination of that phrase meant making no excuse for being who one is. It began in urban culture. (Actually suggesting “ignorance” is okay in its original usage.) Though some might say it stemmed from Coke. What its intent is, is to indicate that there is nothing else. No frills, no pretending, just this is what you get. Like Popeye used to say “I yam what I yam and tha’s all what I yam.” Keeping it real.

Years ago there was much emphasis on transparency. (A young woman in my church years ago challenged the thought with this. “Being transparent is not what I offer to tell you but what you see while I am doing life.”) And then we threw in accountability. (Accountability only works when everything is on the table. That is unrealistic. It also points people to problem finding. I prefer grace.)

So what is real? I have thought a lot about it over the years. I began to land more and more on this. Being real is probably not who I see in another or even in myself. It is deeper than that. If I had come up in the “clear” marketing season, I would have thought all sodas were clear. Coke or Pepsi would have been “clear” to me. But that is not who they were or had begun as.

Many of us will remember the story of The Ugly Duckling. It is the story of swan born into a family of ducks. All through its early life it was mocked. “Too ugly. Can’t lay eggs.” And one day it found out it was a swan. Happiness came. For that it is who it was created to be.

I am convinced that the greatest reason Jesus was a man of no reputation (Philippians 2:7-9) was to provide us with a picture of what it is to walk like God. In some respects He was made a “spy.” Able to be in places where reputation might proceed.  Even the men on the road to Emmaus did not recognize Him. (I know you might think there were marring problems!) But how many did He encounter who knew “who” He was but not “who” He was? (In the church, perhaps if we practiced the “no reputation” thing more…)

The real thing. Jesus came to seek and to save THAT which was lost. (Luke 19:10) What was that? Was it not the image of God He had created Him from? We have identified “being real” as who we are, but when we realize as the “ugly duckling” did that was never who we were created to be. Our “real” today is not real unless we understand who we REAL-LY ARE.

Real identity is not telling people who you are but walking in “who you are.” My early years were spent surrounded by relatives and school mates with wealth. Those that were recently wealthy lived considerably different than those accustomed to it. The “nouveau riche” or newer wealthy ones had to “tell” people in all the little ways. The older money just frowned, because they understood their “identity” of being wealthy. Real grace in one’s life is seen in their actions of grace and not in their “talking” it. Walking the walk and not just talking it are important. When you know who you are, you do not have to tell who you are!

When we recognize who we are in him our life is changed forever. The devil and bad teaching and all that STUFF have taken us away from our identity or our beginnings. It has told us “how to be rich” but not that we were rich. Like clear Coke, it had a name but had lost identity. (Coke is once again the #1 selling soda worldwide. Its wicked stepchild “Diet Coke is #2. They found their identity!)

So perhaps being a spy is simply walking as Jesus did. In full knowledge of who you are, doing only what the Father does. Never questioning your identity, but simply standing up in Him. Finding out the “real thing” is amazing. Determining that “keepin’ it real” is letting Him move through you and knowing who you are.

The ugly duckling went through a lot of angst to get to the root of his issues. ONLY when he looked in the mirror of the still waters did he see who he was.

James 1:22-24 talks of a mirror as well. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face(His GENESIS Strongs #1078 face) in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.…

Want to keep it real? Desirous of the real thing? Look to the lineage. He is your Father. In Him is all good things. You are nothing less. There are no shifting shadows (James 1:17) in Him. For if one thing is CLEAR…You are His!

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