His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Ephesians 3:10-11 NIV
Ever wish you could be on TV? You just might be.
There is more to our lives than meets the eye. Sometimes we seem mired in routine. We go through the motions of living but much of it can seem well outside the realm of making any real difference in the world. We want to feel we are accomplishing something with our lives, but what?
Is anybody watching? Does anybody care what happens in my life? The verses above would seem to indicate that there is more than just the physical stuff we deal with every day. This literally says that God is displaying something through us (the church) “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” Now who could that be? Well, I’m not sure exactly, and I’m not so sure it matters to us, practically speaking, except that it isn’t anybody you or I know or see. It would appear to be an unseen audience of relatively significant heavenly beings observing what is being worked out here on earth through what God is doing in the church. Now could that include our daily lives—even those moments lived outside of anyone’s physical presence? Well, we’re the church aren’t we? Do we ever stop being the church? Are we the church only when we are assembled together or are we the church all the time wherever we are?
In the “reality” TV shows that are so popular now, a camera follows a group of people and captures slices of their supposedly normal lives. (It’s hard to imagine how “normal” you can be with a camera running in your face 24-7, but for purposes of this discussion, it’s a fitting metaphor.) We would do well to imagine a similar camera on us all the time, filming for an unseen audience how God’s plan for us is working out. Kind of like “reality” TV but more like “reality” life.
Could it be that by merely living a life of faith, even in our private moments, we are having an effect on someone? If this is true than our whole life is a mission. It’s a mission to believe. It’s a mission to resist sin. It’s a mission to love. It’s a mission to live our faith out in our daily lives. If somebody’s watching, everything matters.
Somebody is.
John Fischer The Catch 
John,
I just wanted to share this with you, because you love to relate a sporting event and you have a heart that speaks a similar message to mine (and not because I saw you play your music some 30+ years ago)
The Wind-Fire Moment
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going, so is everyone who is born of the spirit” John 3:8
10/28/2010
The rain had been steadily coming down for quite a while. The lights that shone from the poles lit the glistening, wet green surface. The referee’s whistle blew that familiar cadence of three tweets to signify the end of the match. It was the end to the final game of the season for the two high school teams, and for my daughter Katie, like many of the other senior girls, it was to be their final match. I stood there taking it all in. Not only was it the end of some 12 years of watching my daughter play this game, but it was the end of 18 years as a parent watching all three of my kids play sports. I knew that the whistle was coming and as it sounded I stood and watched. I watched as 20 of the 22 players on the field headed for the sidelines.
For some reason my daughter started jogging away from the sideline toward the far goal. At first I thought that for some reason she was going to retrieve one the extra game balls that maybe was left by the goal. Though, that would not be her job.
But, then I saw it. Standing motionless in the mouth of the goal was Lauren, the goalie. Lauren was not only a fellow senior who had just played her last game, but she is one of Katie’s very good friends. Katie made it to then end and the two of them embraced in what was obviously a very emotional moment for them both. The 5’ 4” Katie and the 5’ 11” Lauren, it was quite the sight. Then they walked, “together”, over to their team.
I asked my daughter later if that was something that they had planned on doing for the end of the game, thinking that would have been a cute plan. She said that it wasn’t. That she just saw her friend down there not moving and that she knew what Lauren was feeling. Even better! “So, I ran down to her”, Katie said, “and when I got there she had tears in her eyes, and then I broke down.”
It was a very tender moment, especially to a parent who was already emotional watching his daughter’s last game, but I am afraid that the wonderful message that was spoken silently by the gesture was missed by most everyone whose focus was elsewhere.
Lone man (girl) standing…but, not left behind.
This was not a “rescue” in the sense that someone needed help. But, it was in the sense that someone needed someone who could help them get through the moment. And I want to use this moment to encourage us all this week.
We need to be a friend who will be aware of the moment: For Katie this was her last game, and the whistle was the signal that it had come to the. Most of us would be thinking about what the moment meant to us, not how are others are feeling. And just like her soccer ability to always have a vision for the whole field, she was able to see what else was happening around her. She saw the lone girl standing.
As in our relationship with God, it is when we take our eyes off of ourselves that we can see so much more.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.” (Matt. 22:37-39
I find it interesting that Jesus talks briefly little about loving our friends, outside that we should lay down our lives for them. Which I guess covers that. But, most of the time he is talking of how we treat our neighbors, with the story of the Good Samaritan telling us that everyone is our neighbor. So, I must add the encouragement to you to “be aware of the moment” with your neighbor as well. It may be the greater challenge, but there may be no better way to show His love.
There are times that we just need someone to walk with us: Lauren did not need help walking off the field, but maybe she needed someone to come along side her, who knew just what she was feeling. She needed someone who would stop, give her a hug and shed a tear with her. She did not need Katie to come and solve anything for her, but just to come say, “I know.” Do you understand the difference here? Sometimes when we are in need, we aren’t always asking someone to spend time with us because we expect them to be able to solve anything. We are just hoping that they will come and sit with us, to make us laugh or to just listen to what we feel we have to say.
What kind of friend (neighbor) will you be? We should all be a friend like Katie, who can sense the moment, and do the right thing. And we should all want to be a friend like Lauren, who lives in such a way that her friends will joyfully and selflessly meet her needs. Friendships like these are developed in community. And when you are in high school, you are given that platform to live in. So, my encouragement goes out to all of us who don’t live in high school anymore, and have to work to find a community where actions like these exist. I think Katie and Lauren have shown us it is worth having.
Right now there is a rather large hole in my soul. I have no soccer match to look forward to. I have always loved watching Katie perform on the field of play. She scored her share of goals, would always make the most beautiful passes and could make some awesome moves with her ball-handling. But, I have come to now realize that she saved her very best move on the field for after the final whistle. I wish I would have had a camera to capture the moment, but I have a feeling it is a picture that I will never forget…
Next Week: “Seeking Him”
Reflecting His Glory
Jim Rubstello