“I WANT TO DO IT FOR REAL!”

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon at the park with my grandchildren and their parents. We were tossing about a nerf football and several other 4-8 year olds had joined us. Suddenly my 4 year old granddaughter, Naomi, announced, “I don’t want to play; I want to do it for real!” I looked at the young boy who had just joined us and was holding the football and immediately instructed him to “Run like the wind!”

 You see, I knew what Naomi meant. What she actually was telling everyone was “I don’t just want to toss the ball; I want to play all-out, hit-with-everything-you’ve-got tackle football.” And I feared for the young man’s life. “I don’t want to play; I want to do it for real!”

 How about it, child of God? Could that become our commitment, our desire, and our battle cry? To stop playing at being a Christian and to do it for real at work, at school, in our families, and in all of our relationships. LIVING WITH AN ALL-OUT, HIT-IT-WITH-EVERYTHING-YOU’VE-GOT PASSION FOR SERVING GOD!

 Christmas is about God going all-out. God sending His only begotten Son to live life with nothing held back. Doing it for real!

But made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:7-8) 

Sue and I were recently talking with a couple about serving God and the husband made a powerful statement. He said that God had recently revealed to him that it was “time to take off the costume and put on the uniform.” That is just another way of saying stop playing and do it for real. 

Our Christmas production, The Christmas Star, is set during WWII and reminds us of the seriousness of war. The biblical presentation of Christ reminds us of the seriousness of sin and why God sent His Son into this world. 

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1Jn 4:10) 

I don’t know what 2012 holds. I don’t even know what the rest of 2011 will be like. But I do know this: 

I am getting rid of the costume and putting on the uniform. 

I want to do it for real from here on out!