Likely, there are very few who would wait with great anticipation to see what the Word-of-the-Year would be at the end of any given year. But, with great patience and excitement, we word geeks endure for the lexical mystery to be revealed, the word that was chosen by dictionaries, colleges, and other like-minded groups–the word most identifying the general tone of the previous year in the United States.
This novel exercise is generated by search engine requests, and popular usage. In our age of deepfakes, AI, impostors, social media BOTS, and outright frauds and cons–it would seem logical that Merriam-Webster’s selection of “Authentic” for their Word-of-the-Year 2023 is quite appropriate.
The word broadly addresses truth in character or information–what or who is “real, genuine, true, or actual.” Who could rightly deny that we swim in a daily toxic stew of fake, artificial, misleading, and phony? The spectrum ranges from seemingly “harmless” fiction, to propaganda, to dangerous, even life-threatening medical misinformation.
The chosen word itself identifies a host of misgivings, and mistrust by the populace, myself included. It seems that nothing more than a mere superficial scratch reveals the greater obscurity beneath any veneer of integrity.
No more does this compromise apply than to those who falsely claim to be in the camp of Christ. Though Jesus assures that there is only one road unto Heaven (Matthew 7:14), many are seeking to hijack the promise of salvation through another way, another religion, or a complete distortion of the person of Christ. Some have been deceived–drawn into cults. Others have devised a god, a way of their own thinking which they claim leads to Heaven. Many profess, yet will not endure till the end, and are intended as decoys to lead others astray. Others embrace a role, which suppose will serve them in this life–virtue signaling for the gain of profit, status, esteem, respect, or simply to bolster their cache of friends.
Sadly, I would venture to conclude that many stand outside the circle of Christ, lacking a genuine, authentic conversion in Christ? Spurgeon has rightly noted, “A large part of the professing church is nothing better than the world, wrongfully named with Christ’s name.”
This has long been a malady of mankind, one called out by Christ in Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. In this way, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Ultimately, we rest in knowing that “Yahweh knows those who are His” (2 Timothy 2:19); He makes the call, but only those who have come to Him through the redemptive work of the Cross will be granted entry into the eternal Kingdom.
As we stand just inside the threshold of another year, it is fitting that we more than just take note of our own faithfulness. This is a caution to ourselves that we would examine well our spiritual authenticity, our relationship in Christ–that we have come to God on His terms, acknowledging our sin, repenting of such, and embracing the work of Christ as our only absolution.
To think we stand cleansed in and of our own efforts is to delude ourselves. It is to face a dismal eternity. When it all comes down to what is important, our only security, eternal security is our identity in Christ through faith–Authentic Faith.
