I love a hot cup of tea. Each morning, especially on a work day, I begin with a cup of black tea, preferably English breakfast.  It doesn't feel right to start with the zing of Earl Gray or the unusual seasoning of Orange Pekoe. Only English breakfast will do

I had a tea awakening in the late nineties. Fresh out of college and newly baptized, my friends and I would meet after work in any and every cafe in Manhattan. There, I discovered that tea was more than just the plain black tea in a Lipton tea bag.  At Tea and Sympathy, tea was served in a tea infuser or offered in a mug with a steel tea ball containing fresh tea leaves.  This was real tea!  Something foreign to me.  The tea I grew up drinking was a pantomime of the real thing.  The flavor was better and the cafe experience had me believing I had fully arrived in adulthood. 

In those days, my friends and I tried to proselytize the whole city. We studied the bible with artists, dancers and wall street's finest. We met in small chic cafes across the city. Together we "converted" some and scared many others away with our strict virtues. We certainly believed that we were a light shining in a dark city. Eventually, my entry level salary could not sustain my desire for infused tea. This was long before Suzie Orman could inform me not to spend my meager income on lattes. After a while, all I could afford was a courtesy cup of water.  Cafes would run our groups out for loitering. Eventually, my cafe days came to an end.

My ways as a young believer reminds me of a new believer in Acts 8, named Simon the Sorcerer. He was a successful first century influencer.  He had a large following, and the Samaritans loved to see his work.  One day, the disciple Philip entered Samaria preaching the good news about Jesus.  All the town's people were mesmerized and decided to follow Jesus.  Simon too was mesmerized by powers greater than his own. He too seemed to believe in Jesus.  He gave up sorcery and followed Jesus via Philip.  He was baptized and accepted Jesus. Yet, when Peter and John came to town they recognized that these new believers were imitators but they lacked the real thing.

Peter and John offered the Samaritans something to sustain their faith.  They offered to fill each new believer with the Holy Spirit.  Today we know the Spirit to be an invisible force at work in our lives. Not so for the first century church. Back then, God’s spirit was POWERFUL and visible.  If God’s spirit entered a body, it sent demons running scared.  If God’s spirit touched a man or woman, it healed chronic physically deforming illnesses instantly.  God’s spirit broke physical chains and set men free from prison.

Simon was impressed by the powerful works of the Holy Spirit. He not only wanted to receive the Holy Spirit; he wanted the ability to lay hands on others.    Simon tried to bribe Peter and John into giving him the ability to lay hands on people.  Peter was disgusted by Simon's bedeviled proposition.  Peter cursed Simon the sorcerer for the remainder of his days.  Simon recanted his offer and pleaded with Peter to pray that the curse not come to fruition.  

The bible does not tell us the outcome of Simon’s salvation.  It leaves us guessing.  Did he genuinely repent? Did Simon continue to follow Philip as Philip followed Jesus? Did Simon return to sorcery and quit The Way? We do not know.  We did learn that we can convince others of our walk with Jesus but we cannot deceive the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of God is still POWERFUL. It can detect the insincerities of our heart.  God knows when our faith is the real thing.  God sees beyond our outward acts at church and in the community.  He sees straight into our soul.  

To get to a sincere walk with God you must know him intimately.  Over time our faith grows from zeal to wisdom.  As an early believer, I saw God’s word as the LAW.  Overtime, I’ve come to understand what it means to see God’s grace abound in my life.  My walk went from old testament rule where hypocrisy can fester to new testament grace where the blood covers a multitude of sins. 

Honestly, I don't know if my church friends and I were doing the Lord's work back in my early days as a new believer. I would like to think that some of that work was genuine but years later as a more mature Christian l wonder what kind of seeds we planted. Good seed on good soil will reap a harvest.  It can take your faith from pantomime to the real thing. 

Lord, help me to grow into spiritual maturity.

Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark. A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.…Proverbs 19:2-3

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. - Hebrews 5:14 NIV