5 Jun
The Time I Almost Got Away With It…
Early on in school I developed an important philosophy. It goes as follows: School is not about how hard you work, it’s about how hard your teacher THINKS you worked. Yeah, just call me Aristotle. I spent years (and several detentions) perfecting this talent of mine. By the time seventh grade rolled around I was masterful. The amount of hours worked in comparison to the grades was something to be admired. I soon learned however, that even a great theory such as mine is not fail-proof.
Sitting at my desk daydreaming, I didn’t even notice my teacher start lecturing. One word violently dragged me back into reality, “Ok, let’s start PRESENTATIONS…”
“Oh no…,” franticly flipping through my agenda I found the date. Written in very mocking capital letters: “CLASS PRESENTATION.” Yep, the same one I’d known about for like three weeks and done absolutely nothing about. We would present alphabetically, so I was up second.
I took a deep breath, “Stay focused, you can do this.” Jeff got up to present first… just my luck! The dude had been president of student council since before I could even tie my shoes. He pulled out a homemade shoebox diorama. My head fell to my desk, “Jesus…come quickly!”
He finished, the class roared in applause…I groaned. The moment of truth had arrived. I grabbed a blank piece of paper, flashed a fake smile, and winged it.
They laughed, they cried! My speech was perfect! Looking up from my false-notes I saw that every eye was on me, they were eating it up! They seemed extremely impressed by my elegant speech (or perhaps that I had apparently been able to cram a whole fifteen minute speech onto a single side of paper!). I ended with a powerful closing statement, and I could see the dramatic conviction in the eyes of my audience. Faking a humble bow, I returned to my desk accompanied by a symphony of cheers. I had made it! Almost…
“Hey, Dan.” It was my teacher’s voice, “You kind of mumbled in the middle there, I missed some info, can I have your notes to clarify it?” Turning around, I saw my teacher holding out her hand with a victorious smirk on her face. Busted!
Looking back I’m reminded of how my Christian walk can sometimes be. I speak the Christian lingo, attend church weekly, lead Bible studies and so on, but through it all my relationship with God is hurting. I’ve realized how easy it is to “play Christian.” Our outer actions sometimes contradict our inner attitudes. We give the impression that we are walking close with God, but all the while our Bible gathers dust and the only prayers we pray are before meals. But despite how well we fool others, God always sees through our masks. I encourage you as you go about this week to consider if maybe you’ve just been “playing Christian.” Always remember that God isn’t being fooled.
How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead people’s bones and every kind of impurity. Matt. 23:27
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Filed in: Humility, Relationship, Sin, Truth
About the Author
Daniel Blackaby is a second year college student at Mount Royal College, in Calgary, AB. His biggest passions in life are music and literature. He plays guitar in a Christian rock band and also plays bass guitar, drums, and keyboard.
Apart from playing music, Daniel loves to listen to all types of music and has over 700 CDs on his iTunes. He admits he’s a huge nerd who loves to read and enjoys collecting classic literature. He loves to hang out and have a good time, but his primary goal is to try and live life to the fullest and glorify God in everything he does. You can contact him by email at boonster@telus.net.
Read more about Daniel here.
