The Real Thing
Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is “authentic.” It has been searched for more than any other word.
Here are three of the definitions given for the word by Merriam-Webster:
“Not false or imitation.”
“Conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features.”
“Made or done the same way as an original.”
Some synonyms given for authentic are:
“Genuine, pure, right, real and true.”
Why was there a substantial increase in the number of searches for the meaning of the word, “authentic”? One of the reasons is because of the increase of AI and the ability of using it to take just three words spoken by a person and then reproduce virtually identically the speech of that person. Scams are increasing with the use of AI so that over a phone it will sound just like your loved one pleading for you to send money somewhere.
In addition to speech reproduction, AI can also create a video representation of a person. So, is the person speaking on TV actually that person or is it an AI creation? For example, Taylor Swift and others have made statements this year talking about their “authentic voice” and “authentic self.”
Also, we have heard repeated frequently the words, “fake news.” It has become increasingly difficult to determine whether a news story is true or is it just propaganda.
What is it that so many people are actually searching for? From the synonyms for authentic we can see what so many people really want. What is it that is pure, real, right and true? There is nothing more pure, real, right and true than the Word of God. What so many are searching for is really God Himself. If you want what this world cannot give you then you want purest of the pure which is God.
In Isaiah 6:1-3, Isaiah has a vision of the real God, the One true God:
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’”
If you want authentic, then you really want and need the thrice holy and the purest of pure God. As many have said there is built into, we human beings, a need for God that can only be satisfied by God Himself. The only way for that to happen is through Jesus Christ, the son of God. The Bible says in John 14:6 that Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
So, as the old coke commercials used to say, if you want the “real thing,” then you need Jesus. John 3:16 is still just as true as when Jesus spoke the words two thousand years ago: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Believe on Jesus and you will have the “real thing,” Jesus, and that is the “authentic” that you really want. When you have Jesus as your personal Savior, the Holy Spirit will birth you into the family of God and seal you (Ephesians 4:30) until the day of redemption.