The jingle and jangle of Christmas is in the air. Shoppers scan the internet, duck in and out of shopping centers, rack their brains and check their wallets looking for the perfect gifts to give on Christmas morning to make the holiday magical in the economic downturn. With all the shopping, we seldom give a second thought to the birthday we celebrate. What would the Prince of Peace like for Christmas? I am sure He would not be impressed with the trinkets that line the department stores and showrooms of our world. Even if we could spend all the gold in the world, He would still feel the sounding brass and the tinkling cymbal ringing in His heart. He has given us a clue as to what He would like. When He called His apostles, He said, “Follow me” (Matt 4:19 KJV). Walk in His footsteps; be like Him.
Oscar Wilde once said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” We are mediocre children compared to His incomparable greatness, and certainly in worlds without end we cannot achieve His stature, but our efforts would be more appreciated than any gift the riches of the world could buy. He wants our emulation. He wants us to have a new heart and a new mind. He wants us to walk in newness of life. We cannot do that without His help.
When I was working on my Master of Fine Arts degree in theater, I took many acting classes and got to know many of the young, budding actors and actresses. I was impressed with their abilities to emote and transform themselves into whatever the imagination could allow. I saw myriads of King Lears and Lady Macbeths. I saw numberless Lauras and Toms. The top-performing actors would lose themselves in the character. They lost their identity for the duration of the play. You heard the character in their voices and saw the character in their walk. I was amazed at how the words and actions of a fictitious character could leave its mark so indelibly. Once, I saw a play about Jack the Ripper. The actor who played the homicidal maniac was a young man from the acting department. He was a gentle young man with impeccable talent. As I watched the play, he transformed. The young actor disappeared; he was Jack the Ripper. Weeks after the play, I still got chills of fear every time I saw him on campus. It took him a while to shed that character.
Once, a young actor asked me to direct him in a two-character play called The Woolgatherer. It was a romantic drama about a young woman and a truck driver. The young actor was not a stereotypical truck driver. Being on the effeminate side, I knew it would be a challenge for him to transform himself into a believable character that was his opposite. Because we were friends, I decided to take the challenge.
We chose a beautiful, talented actress as his leading lady, and the rehearsal process began. I was right, of course; there was work to do. If he had played the truck driver as himself, he would have created a comedy on stage. I was not about to let that happen.
The rehearsal process was something like the musical My Fair Lady, except we were working to make him less refined and more rugged. We visited truck stops where we sat and listened to the way truck drivers walked and talked. We were not listening to their words. We listened to the inflection and tones in their voices. We paid attention to how they stood and how they moved their hands. We watched them sit and stand up. We watched their facial expressions. Then we would go to the rehearsal hall and practice. When I noticed he needed more work in a particular area, we would revert to the drawing board. We got tapes of voices of men who sounded like truck drivers, and he listened to them over and over. Then, we put his prep work into the script and started to build the character for the play. He was humble enough to allow me to say, “No, no, no. That is not right. Try it this way.” Gradually we built the character, and my young friend started to sound like a truck driver in his real life.
The night of the performance was a surprise and delight for the audience but more so for those who knew the actor. The acting teachers were shocked. One teacher said, “I have seen that play many times, and this is the first time I have seen it work.” Actresses who had collaborated with my friend wondered where the new actor came from. They were open-mouthed when they read the program. The transformation was so complete. He was in effect walking in a newness of life.
Becoming like Jesus takes effort. Just like my actor friend, it takes desire and focus. There is power in our thoughts, desires and actions. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7 KJV). Thoughts are not just words running through our minds. Thoughts comprise the images we put before our eyes. They are the music that rings constantly in our ears. They are the magazines and books we choose to read and the movies we choose to watch. The adage, “We are what we eat,” applies also to our minds. We become the thoughts that occupy our minds. That is scary when we think about how little time we spend monitoring our surroundings and our thoughts.
When our infants crawl on the floor, we inspect everything that goes into their mouths. If we see their cheeks puff out, our fingers are right there in that slobbery little mouth to find out what is in there. If it is good, we give it back to the child. If it is bad, we throw it away and say, “No! No!” We are worried that the child might eat something harmful. Why are we not just as cautious with our minds? Even as adults, we inspect the food we put in our mouths. If it tastes bad, we find a garbage can.
Minds are fertile fields. Any thought that goes in our mind is planted. The more we give the thought sunlight, the more it grows. We can never uproot a bad thought or image. It is there forever, ready to be recalled at any instant. The only way we can destroy its power is to give it less attention by replacing it with a new image or idea every time it flashes into our mind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny." I would add, “Sow a picture and reap a thousand thoughts; sow a movie and reap a life’s perspective; sow perspective and reap a future; sow people’s perspective and reap the future; change enough people’s perspective and change the world.”
Jesus wants what money cannot buy for a Christmas gift. He wants us to change our hearts and for us to walk in newness of life. It takes time for each of us to figure out how we can do that. It is as demanding as the transformation of my actor friend. Prayer can be our director or a daily question-and-answer time for Jesus to say, “You’re on the right track,” or “No, no, let’s try it this way.” He walked the earth 2,000 years ago, but He left footprints across time, and His script is in the holy scriptures. When He said, “Love one another, as I have loved you” (James 15:12 KJV), He gave us a challenge to love as He loves. “Come and follow me” (Matt 19:21 KJV) is His invitation to become like Him, and through many acts of kindness and charity, we will become like Him, and in the end, we will see Him as He is. He knows the way to true and lasting happiness and peace. He has the answer to every conceivable problem we face. Even with the economic downturn, we can have the most magical Christmas, and it will not cost us anything but time and effort.
