In the 1985 movie The Purple Rose of Cairo, Cecilia is a New Jersey waitress during the Depression searching for an escape from her dreary life. She becomes obsessed with a movie of the same name, sitting through it so many times she can repeat every word. The star of the movie, Tom Baxter, a dashing, young, Indiana Jones-ian archaeologist, walks off the screen and into her life to sweep her off her feet. There’s only one problem… Tom isn’t real. To find out if Tom returned to The Purple Rose of Cairo or stayed with Cecilia, you’ll have to watch the movie.
As I enjoyed the film on television the other day, I noticed what was perhaps an unintentional spiritual parallel: Those of us who are born again by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior step from a fake life into real life just like Tom Baxter. But just like Tom we carry the confusion of our acting life with us into the real world of Christ’s Kingdom.
Like Tom Baxter, we step from fantasy into reality when we become followers of Jesus. We step out of a three-act fantasy into an eternal reality that demands responsibilities and accountability. What we do and say here in this life is designed by God to prepare us for the real life that lasts forever. The movie plot helped me realize my now-life on earth is going on my resume for Heaven. When we step into eternal life through Jesus Christ, we step into a new world of purpose and eternal reality that requires us to live by eternal values.
In the movie world, the stars are directed what to say and how to act it out. When the director yells, “Cut!” the scene is over, and the actors return to whoever they were before the director called for action. As Christians, we cannot continue to act as we’ve always acted and do the things we’ve always done, assuming some eternal movie director will yell “Cut” so that we can return to our “regular” lives. Jesus directs us to Cut those things from our life and to Act as Kingdom people living in a Kingdom reality now, preparing ourselves and those we influence for His real Kingdom…now. When Jesus directions, “ACTION!” this is what He expects—
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” Matthew 21:43
“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:8
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8
Lord, thank You for the reality check your Kingdom provides. I’m asking You to continue challenging me regarding how I act in this life. May my motivation be from a Kingdom heart…a heart after Yours. Amen.