The Real Act

Read Luke 14:27

I have directed many dramas in my day. I have found that the best way to act is to not act. Make the part seem as real as possible and the action will be more real. So when I came across this story it struck home.
Being a modern day disciple of Jesus Christ isn’t something to take lightly. This was what Jesus wanted the people to understand. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ demands our very best in everything we do. There is no such thing as a “part-time” Christian. Being a disciple is a way of life.
Someone once told the story about an American businessman who traveled to Europe to see the famous Oberammergau Passion Play. Following the performance the businessman had the opportunity to meet and talk with Anton Lang who portrayed Christ in the play. Seeing the cross that was used in the play, the businessman wanted his wife to take his picture with it. Handing the camera to his wife, he asked her to take his picture while he lifted the cross to his shoulder. To his surprise he could hardly budge the cross from the floor.
“I don’t understand,” he said to Mr. Lang. “I thought it would be hollow. Why do you carry such a heavy cross?” Anton Lang’s reply explains why this play draws people from all over the world to that little Bavarian village every decade. “If I did not feel the weight of His cross,” he said, “I could not play the part.”
Likewise, in order for us to play the part of disciple, we too, must carry His cross. If being a disciple of Jesus costs us no pain to acquire, no self-denial to preserve, no effort to advance, no struggle to maintain, then this isn’t what Jesus had in mind. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not something we should take lightly, but it should involve our total commitment.

"