StewardLife Lesson 29

STORY

George Lucas, just after the release of "Star Wars Episode I--The Phantom Menace" was being interviewed. The host rekindled the controversy about Jar-Jar Binks, the computer-animated main character.

"People say it's not right to have one of your main characters computer generated," the host commented. "Don't you think main characters should be real?"

Lucas paused for a moment, gave the interviewer a puzzled look, and answered, "Look, NONE of it is real!"

INSIGHT OUT

On this web site we try to get stewards to see life from a different point of view--through the new way of seeing that the Bible says comes to regenerated people in Christ. So often we get fooled by what we think is "real." And in today's digital world, the line between what looks real and what is real is often blurred if not entirely missing.

Sitcoms, dramatic series, movies and video games are FICTION. But somehow, we are duped into thinking that "this is real life." Children--and adults who are still children--are prone to believe that what they see is the way people really live and behave. One who lives the StewardLife is not supposed to imitate fiction, yet it is hard not to do so.

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be." In other words, "What you gravitate to and where you dwell will define your value system and your relationship to God's values." Your heart doesn't make the choice--your feet do. And what you surround yourself with will have a definite affect on your heart.

Where you place yourself in relationship to what is real in life will influence how you look at everything else.

STORY

Last fall scientists sent light through Cesium vapor and when they did, its speed increased over 100 times. A few weeks ago, scientists sent two bursts of light into a transparent substance and one came to a dead stop until the second beam was turned off, then the stopped burst continued on through. Last week Brookhaven lab in Upton, New York announced scientists have discovered an unseen kind of matter that shatters accepted models that describe reality. Dr. Gerald Gabrielse of Harvard said, "This could lead to a whole deeper understanding of how reality is put together."

EXERCISE

For the Christian steward, the reality that drives life is the reality of the cross. It is the singular point where God penetrated history and changed it forever.

Let your feet take your heart to the cross, and look at the cross with new eyes. Look at it and see reality in ways your eyes never saw it before.

[Diagram of Christ on the Cross with Differing Perspectives]

See Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19.

Imagine you are at the cross. How does the view of the cross change as you...

stand at point (A) and look at the cross? How is Jesus seen in relationship to the background as you look at and past the cross from (A)?
stand at point (B) and look at the cross? What do you see?
stand at point (C) and look at the cross? What do you see?
stand at point (D) and look at the cross? What do you see?
look at the cross from above--from the Father's point of view?
look at the cross from below--from Satan's point of view?

What does all this have to do with what is truly real?