I’ve been on the
stage in front of an audience since I was in kindergarten when I stepped out in
front of our class that was lined up on the stage of the old auditorium at the
old St Rose School in downtown Santa Rosa, California to sing a solo at our prestigious
graduation ceremony! Over the years I
have become very comfortable in front of large groups of people. I’ve enjoyed leading singing, being the
master of ceremonies at events, directing dramatic and/or musical endeavors,
and preaching and /or teaching with children, youth or adults. But I am not real comfortable at acting in
front of people. I just like to be
myself when I’m on a stage.
All of these
thoughts and memories this morning were a continuation of a conversation I had
with a good Christian friend last night as I drove him home from a Men’s Bible
Study we had just participated in. I was
commenting to him how grateful I was to the men of his church who reached out
to me, without hesitation, when they heard of our situation. When John suggested to his Bible Study group
that he had a friend who had not attended church for quite a while as he was
taking care of his wife, they immediately opened up their hearts and their
wallets to provide for a qualified caregiver to come in and be with my wife so
that I could attend the study on a regular basis!
Now mind you, except
for one of the Pastor’s vague remembrance of when my family and I attended this
church back in the early nineties for about six months while we were in the
initial stages of starting the church that we became a part of for fifteen
years, none of these men knew my wife or me.
They only saw a need and didn’t think twice about being a part of the
solution. These men are not actors who portray
a different character for each of the various scenes in life, they simply live
their honest true faith. It’s just who
they are!
On the other hand,
I continued in my conversation with my friend in the car, I related how I have
been so frustrated and confused at some of the Christian individuals whom I
expected to be a part of the solution to our needs and they failed to come
through. With some of them actually becoming
a major contributor to the intensity of the problem!
In studying out
Hebrews 3:1 this morning, I came to realize that in many respects, these folks are
like actors performing on the stage.
They will act out various roles or play different characters that
comfortably fit into whatever scene they are in at the time. On the other hand, the men at the church didn’t
step into the role of someone else when pressed with a need, they simply,
without a second thought, responded with what was really inside… the love of Christ.
Well, that really got
me to do a personal inventory this morning!
When I get up in the morning and step out onto the stage of life, do I
carry a trunk filled with the various costumes that I may have to wear in order
to best play the various characters I might need to act throughout the day, or
am I just me? Is the real me the man of
my heart who loves God and seeks to be an example of His love and His grace to
all I meet and in the midst of any situation that I should be involved
with? Or am I a great actor whose various
character roles disguise who he or she really is?
Like I said
earlier, I really do not like to act!
What you see is what you get… and hopefully it is a representation of
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. How
about you? Have a good day. Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking
yourself… “What or WHO am I expecting to
be today?”
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