Everybody wants to be authentic these days.  Not me.  I'm not authentic, and I'm not even trying to be authentic.  It's not that I want to be fake and phony.  I just know I'm not authentic, because I know as hard as I try to be authentic, I just can't do it, and neither can you.  Here's why.

To be truly authentic, you have to be a true original.  By definition, something that's authentic has a "claimed and verifiable origin or authorship."  An authentic Rembrandt sketch is one-of-a-kind.  It's not a copy.  it's the first one.  Even if you take "authentic" to mean something other than "original," you're still faced with something that's "fully trustworthy."  Sorry.  I'm trustworthy most of the time, but fully?  Not a chance.

Can you see why I'm not authentic?  Even if you don't know me, you know I'm not a true original.  And whether you know me or not, you know I'm not completely trustworthy, because nobody is.  What I really am--and this is on a good day--is a good copy of a true original.  I'm a reflection of something or someone else.  The question is, what or who am I copying?

I'm studying the life of the apostle Paul right now, and I can tell you that Paul was a guy who was all about copying or imitating.  "Imitate me," he wrote in a letter.  Seems pretty bold until you read the rest of Paul's sentence:  "just as I imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1).  What Paul was saying is, "copy me, just as I copy Christ."  I like that.  I'm not authentic and it's impossible for me to be authentic, but I can imitate or copy a true original--really, the true original--and get as close to authentic as I'll ever be.  

In fact, I can aspire to be an authentic copy.  I say "aspire" because the word "authentic" in front of copy means that the process is faithful and painstaking.  Anyone can be a sloppy copy.  Being an authentic copy takes effort and pain.  And faith.