I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. - Acts 20:24
We live like our lives like they have ultimate meaning. We are the center. We are the hero. It’s all about us. In reality, however, we are all just role players in God’s story. All our time on the earth amounts to nothing more than a two second appearance in God's story.
It’s like an “actor” I knew. When he said he had a part in the movie Catch Me If You Can, I said, “I’ll have to go check that out and see how you did.” His response illustrates our lives. He said, “Well . . . I’ll have to watch it with you so you don’t miss me. I was a taxi cab driver.” He appeared in one scene, in the background, completely unnoticed by the majority of people who watched the movie. Why? Because the movie was about Leonardo DiCaprio - not the taxi driver in the background of the airport scene.
If my actor friend had taken his role and tried to make it about himself, he would have been foolish. He could have spent hours fixing his makeup, trying on clothes, and standing in front of the mirror rehearsing the look he was going to use as the taxi flashed past. If the point was to make himself look great, it was wasted because nobody really notices.
Our lives are the same way. We work hard and try to make the most of them, but if the point is to make a big deal out of ourselves, we’re pretty foolish.
Our lives aren’t meaningless though. As a part of God’s story, they are indispensable. Imagine a movie with no crowds. What would Gladiator be like with no one in the Coliseum to cheer on Maximus? What if no one was there to dance on the Titanic with Jack and Rose? Our role is to spend our lives making Jesus the hero of God’s story. We don’t waste our life by focusing on him. Instead, we maximize it.
What are you doing with your two second appearance?
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