We are At Center Stage; Are You Ready? by Rev. Sanda Scott Wright

My husband referees basketball so I asked him what did it mean to be at center stage. He is a man of few but precise words and his simple reply was, “It means all eyes are on you.”  I never thought of it like that, but it was quite apropos for that is what is where every believer is right now.

We as Christians are no longer allowed being on the sidelines. We have been threshed forth by the Holy Spirit onto Center Stage.  Have you found yourself the object of persecution, unfair requirements, and feeling like you’ve been taken advantage of?  Feeling overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, taken for granted, asked to do 24hours worth of work in 8 hours?  The list goes on. Have I captured your situation yet?  The bottom-line you; we have been placed right on Center Stage on the firing line.  We are being picked out to be picked on.  We have been lied on to see if we can be relied on!

It’s proving time.  We say we love God.  We say we have forsaken all to follow Christ…but have we really?  Being reviled we are to revile not.  Being despised we are to despise not.  We are counted as sheep before the slaughter.  The servant is not greater than the Master.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. …I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. John 13:16,18

“For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” I Peter 2:20-24.

Does your situation cause you pain? Pain is pain it matters not whether it is emotional or physical.  Finding yourself frustrated, hurt, and wondering where is God?  Why is he allowing this?  We my dear friends are being lied on to see if we can be relied on!  ‘God refined’ in the fire.  Can God depend on you to represent him in the vilest circumstances?  Will you be His emissary? Will you be his son, daughter?  Will we walk in His likeness amongst a dark and perverse generation?  Yes painful you say, I say, yes in deed.  I wonder how painful it was for Christ to take on the sins of the entire world, my sins your sins when he himself had no sins!  We will be healed as we patiently endure this proving time.  We have been threshed onto Center Stage for such a time as this!  All eyes are on you, all eyes are on me; will they say Christ in us our hope of Glory? Welcome to Center Stage ready or not.

further reading

This Your Time To Take Center Stage? There is a great crowd of witnesses waiting to see what you have, and do you know who you are? by Bishop Joseph Scott, Head of LMI