Living My Facade

I sometimes wonder if we live Jesus, like we live on a movie set. I visited a set once and I couldn't believe how real it looked from the outside. The windows and doors really opened. Inside the furniture was real. You could even sit down on the couch, turn on the lamp and the television. It was pretty neat. It was like being inside a real house. But, the only reality was the front room and if you tried to go beyond the front room, you found you went nowhere. Each door simply went behind the set. They didn't lead to the bedroom or the kitchen. They didn't take you to the backyard. They didn't go anywhere. It was all a facade!!
It is so easy to be a Chrisitian at church!!!!Everyone in the room is singing, praying, listening to the Word and seemingly all on the same page. Most everyone is kind and friendly and we all act like we love each other. It is so easy to live Jesus in a stained glass set. Christianity seems so real. But, walk through the doors and the reality of Christianity is gone and we find we go nowhere.
I know y'all have heard all this before. You've heard sermons about putting on Chritianity like it is your Sunday clothes and then taking it off and putting it back in the closet. You've heard sermons about becoming Christlike daily. I know you have. So have I!!
But, sometimes I forget. Sometimes, when my feelings have been hurt or am upset, I become manipulative. I decide to use my facade to get even. I withdraw from those who I feel hurt me. I use my absence conspicuously so they will miss me and come, begging my forgiveness. Then magnanimously, I forgive them, assuring them I was really not upset with them, I was merely spending time alone with God. Sometimes, when I am angry, when my trust has been hurt, I find myself living my facade. I tell my friends how horrible the other person is, and then, using as many "church words" as I can, I remind them how spiritual I am, how strong my faith is and how I deserve so much better. Sometimes when I am tired, when I feel like I do all the work, I live my facade. With huge sighs and much murmuring I thrust the facade in everyone's face, letting them see how indispensable I am. Sometimes, when I want to make a really good impression, I wear my "church-Neva" everywhere. I speak (in a much softer voice) about Jesus and the Word. I smile and nod and pretend to listen to others. I invite them to church so they can be with me. The problem is when I live in facade, it is still a facade and I am still a fake. (notice how similar those two words are).
We would think a person so pathetic if they lived on a movie set. We would shake our heads and wonder how they be so simple they could not tell it was not a real home. We would wonder that they set their goals so low and chose to live in such a way. We would think this person less than intelligent, less than ambitious and very pathetic.
Christianity has to be more than a movie set. It has to be more than what we do. It has to be who we are. Otherwise it is simply a facade and living in our facade, well, that makes us nothing more than Pharisees ---going nowhere, fooling noone, and miserable in our fake reality.

Mt. 23 (from the Message by Eugene Peterson)
"You're hopeless . . .Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you are saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds."

Neva