ON THE VANGUARD

AND…ACTION!
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
James 4:13-14

Imagine being in a movie. You have just been cast as one of the extras in a shot of a crowd in the big city. You saw the cameras and knew they were recording your moves. You received payment for your time and even got to eat the food provided by the catering truck. In every sense of the word, you are now a movie star, right? With this knowledge you gather all your friends and family to watch the movie with you when it comes out. As you sit in the movie theatre with your friends and family the movie starts. Here comes your big seen; well in your eyes the whole movie is about you…you are the star. It’s coming, it’s coming, wait for it, and BOOM! There it is, your one second of fame. You stand up when the movie is done and take a bow expecting people now to swarm to you and ask for your autograph. But no one comes up to you. In fact, your friends and family are a little perturbed. You made it sound like the movie was all about you but really your spotlight of fame turned out to be only a one second, wide angled, back of the head shot that you really had to squint your eyes to even see you in. But wait, I forgot to tell you that although you are in the movie you really are not the star. Remember, you are the extra. You had no dressing room trailer, no chair with your name or person to attend to your needs. You were hired in a mass casting call.
I am not sure you caught the underlining of this story, so I will try to do a little better job. I have come to a place where God keeps working to convince me that life is not all about me. My pride and selfishness would like me to think so, but the reality is it is not. For so many years I have walked around as that ‘extra’ yet considering myself the star. I have been living as though I had the right to make demands on the set, to boss others around, and to demand what food should be spread out by the catering truck. But now, as the movie has been played back and my name doesn’t even appear in the end credits, it is beginning to make more sense.
This movie is about life, and the main character in this movie is God. Who am I to overstep God? I am the creation yet so many times I perceive myself as the creator. What I fail to grab hold of is that, as James 4:13-14 says, I am but just a mist, appearing for a little while and then vanishing. I will not be on this earth for long before I find the fate of all those who have gone before me. Additionally, when I leave, it will not be many more generations before I am fully forgotten. So then, my responsibility is not to make a name for myself, but to point towards Him. God created me to be a reflection of Him because I am supposed to point others to Him.
The movie credits will soon play and my name will not be read in them. Why? Because not I, nor you, nor Moses, nor Abraham has ever been nor will ever be the main character in this movie of life. We all play the smallest of roles, fractional seconds, compared to God who is the main character. We need to come to grips with this fact. Though the script may be written, calling for a character as myself, that part is only an extra, never meant to overshadow the lead. As soon as I understand this, I mean really understand this, then I will be able to embrace the full extent of my character. I am but a mist, but a mist whose motivation is the reflection of the main character, God.