Saturday night, I finally got to see the blockbuster movie everyone was talking about with Dad and Jeremiah. Avengers: Age of Ultron certainly did not disappoint, especially when watching in an IMAX 3D theater. Since the last Avengers movie, I wondered how the sequel could possibly top the first. After only a few minutes into the movie, I realized this one would be even better.
As the lights dimmed, we sat in our seats to see the first preview. It was a preview for the new Star Wars movie that will come out in December. Of course, I had previously watched this preview over and over (I even saw the video of Matthew McConaughey’s reaction to the preview), but watching it in 3D was beyond awesome. Lightsaber battles, storm troopers, Han Solo telling Chewbacca, “We’re home.” It was awesome and it only built up the excitement for the main event, Avengers in 3D. There were times when it all looked real, as if we were immersed in all the action.
I love sci-fi and superhero movies and the past six months, Dad and I have been watching Star Trek on Netflix. I absolutely love, love, love everything about Star Trek. I guess you could call us Trekkies. We have already finished the Voyager series, and now we are going back and forth between The Next Generation and Enterprise.
Some of my favorite episodes involve an amusing invention created in the Star Trek universe called a holodeck. Basically, holodecks are giant rooms where you can program the computer to place yourself in an artificial, and interactive environment, such as a crime novel, a love story, or a trip to your favorite tourist destination. The computer uses hologram technology to the extent that you can feel and touch what surrounds you, including interactive people who are programed to believe they are real and that their fictional characters are real. It seems as real as can be, and yet it is all make-believe.
Watching this 3D movie and enjoying these holodeck episodes got me thinking about my walk with Christ. When people see me, a Christian, do they see what looks real and seems real, yet is a far cry from reality? Or do they see something that looks real and IS REAL? Essentially, is my faith all for show or am I truly living the Godly life in which my actions and pursuits reflect those of a true believer?
I will be quite honest. I have not read my Bible, I have not prayed, I have not given God the amount of time I should lately. In fact, I have not read my Bible (other than in Church) at all for the past several weeks. Earlier, this month I wrote in my blog that I sometimes try to come up with excuses of why I can put it off until later, but now that I am done with the semester, done with all of the stress of exams and papers, what excuse do I have? Why can I not just get myself to read, at the very least, a little bit of my Bible a day, or even once a week? I have no exams to study for, no papers to write, so why do I still put my relationship with God on the backburner? Why is it that when He calls my number, do I continually put Him on hold?
And why does it take an epiphany while watching the Avengers or Star Trek to make me see that I am giving excuse after excuse to not live a REAL Christian life? As I am writing this blog post, I am going to give myself a challenge, and I give others this challenge as well. No more excuses! I will read more. I will pray more and seek God more. When others see me, I don’t want them to see someone who only acts like a follower and seems to be a follower. I want them to see someone that not only looks like a follower, but also actually follows Christ. I want others to not see someone who deep down is just going through the motions of being a believer. Instead, I want them to see someone that is truly seeking God with everything in me.
I can say, all day long, that I am a follower of Jesus Christ, and I am. I try my best not to hide that fact. But if I don’t continually seek God, then those words seem pointless. When others see me, I don’t want them to see a holodeck program of my faith (something that only looks and seems real). When others see me, I don’t want them to only see my testimony of faith like a 3D movie, a faith that seems real. I want my faith to actually be REAL. I want my walk with Christ to be so real, one completely dependent on Him, that there is no question… My faith is not a 3D movie or a holodeck. It’s as real as real can be.
I want my walk with God to be one that continually seeks Him, a faith echoed by Psalm 63:1-5:
1 You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
I pray that my soul continues to be on fire for God, that I earnestly seek Him, that I earnestly pray and read His Word, that my praise for Him lasts until the end of time. I pray that we all strive to walk with Him with everything in us!
Let our faith not only seem real like 3D movies and holodecks. Let it actually be REAL!
New International Version. Bible Gateway. Web. 18 May. 2015.
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