“Fake it till you make it,” can seem artificial, superficial, and insincere. Yet, we encourage children to play dress up, allowing them to aspire to something that is, as of yet, unattainable. However, by doing so, they exercise their muscles and sharpen their skills, practicing what they will someday become.
As C.S. Lewis put it,
Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already. That is why children’s games are so important. They are always pretending to be grown-ups—playing soldiers, playing shop. But all the time, they are hardening their muscles and sharpening their wits so that the pretence of being grown-up helps them to grow up in earnest.
Now, the moment you realize ‘Here I am, dressing up as Christ,’ it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which at that very moment the pretence could be made less of a pretence and more of a reality. You will find several things going on in your mind, which would not be going on there if you were really a son of God. Well, stop them. Or you may realize that, instead of saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping your wife to wash- up. Well, go and do it.
The more we “dress the part” as a child of God, the more we exercise our spiritual muscles and sharpen our skills as a daughter of the king—practicing what we have someday become!