Lights, Camera, Action – Jesus!

Photo By: Shmector (Creative Commons)

“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him.” — Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

I love this quote.

From the limited research I did about Napoleon, I found nothing that would indicate that he was a Christian. It seems he had a strong belief in God, the Father, but was shaky on Jesus having lived at all.

The quote above however, does indicate he had a tremendous amount of respect for someone he may not have even believed existed.  To me, that says a lot about what Jesus has meant to history. It proved that even people that are seen as being deceptive, unjust or just plain evil have at least some idea of the truth of Christ.

That’s a powerful legacy. That’s power. That’s Jesus.

So what are you doing to ensure your legacy?

Are you writing the great American novel? Making movies? Making political promises?  Doing research to find a cure for cancer?

Or are you using the gifts given to you by the Holy Spirit to help you in doing what Jesus directed us to do – make disciples?

Don’t get me wrong, the things listed above are all legitimate ways to serve God – as is playing football, sweeping floors, teaching, practicing law, flipping burgers, writing blogs and/or doing standup comedy.

What I am asking is “are you doing what you do for the glory of God?”

Wherever you are in life, you’re right where God needs you. God knew you’d be in this exact spot today and He expects you to use this opportunity to bring him glory – whatever it is you happen to do for a living or for fun.

See, God gave us all different abilities and skills, different temperaments and different outlooks on life. I think how we apply those various attributes is really up to us.

I don’t  think God is sitting looking at a cosmic road map shaking his head every time we go down the wrong road – and by wrong I am not speaking of sin.

I mean God gave me a desire to perform, to write and to entertain people. However, had I chosen to work my butt off – and it’s a big butt so I would have had the energy  – to become a doctor instead I don’t think I would have been wrong or that my whole life would have been miserable, just different.

I believe that is true for you too.  Sure, I think God has a plan for you but I don’t think he has it drawn out with so many details that you can never veer left or right. I believe he leaves a lot of that stuff up to us. He gives us the tools and then stands back to see what we make.

If we’re honest with ourselves and Him, if we spend time in his word and time in prayer the Bible says God will bless our efforts. One of my all time favorite passages is Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (KJV).”

For me it is important to remember what a director does, he directs  – but the actors, like us, have a say. As the ultimate director, God knows how to not only how get the best performance out of us  his actors but – if we let him He can turn the movie of our lives into next year’s winner for best picture.