Love them , or hate them…reality television shows are everywhere. You can’t help but turn the TV on to some show about cooking, or real estate, or remodeling, or decorating, or baking a cake, or a half a dozen shows about the housewives of this place or that. The vast majority of us watch, or refuse to watch them; but we never think that we would ever be a participant in one.
I would like to suggest this to you; perhaps we are all a part of a reality show each and every day. Remember the show Candid Camera, produced by Allen Funt? The program consisted of placing an unsuspecting person in a situation with actors aware of stunt, and then filming the reaction of the person. There were two parts to every premise. First was the actual recording of the person’s reaction as the plot unfolded. Then, there was the filming of the person’s reaction once they were told they were involved in a scam…or using today’s terminology, they were being punked.
I would ask you to think about this for a minute…isn’t life really just one big morality play being played out each and every day? Life is test to see how we will react in certain situations…how we will treat others we come in contact with.
The script is right there in front of us. In Matthew 26:11, we are told there will always be poor among us. So…what is the reason for poverty? Poverty is there so God can see if any of us are worthy to enter His kingdom when the “cameras” stop recording our segment.
Again, in Matthew 19:24, we are told “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Next we add this subplot with the following from Matthew 20:16, where we are told the following…"So the last will be first, and the first will be last." With this passage, the poor are reassured they will not always be on bottom- their suffering is for a purpose- and one day, things will be made right. Throughout our lives we are going to constantly be forced to interact with those less fortunate than ourselves… and instead of a camera recording our reactions, it will simply be God observing us.
So, now we have the cast of characters; but we need the storyline. It can be found in Matthew 25:40, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
Applying the above in its simplest form, imagine sitting at a table with 4 other people from all walks of life and there is a piece of cake sitting in the center of the table. There will someone whose instincts will tell him it is just fine to eat the piece of cake without regard to the others at the table. There will be someone who will suggest that piece be divided equally. There will be someone at the table who will ask who among them hasn’t eaten, and give up their share.
Now, multiply that above situation by the hundreds of times a day we are presented with choices we have to make. Help this person, not help that person. Say something kind, or say something cruel. Share something…give something away…keep it yourself.
Hour after hour, day after day, month after month, and year after year all our choices are recorded until our actions can be accurately predicted well in advance.
One day the filming will stop for us, and we will sit on that couch in God’s studio and the video will be played back for us. There will be some who will be rewarded for the way they conducted themselves. Unfortunately, for others, "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out” Luke13:28
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