I must applaud my wife.
Not because she’s threatening me with violence should I choose not to. I do so because she is truly a woman who gets stuck into anything she commits herself to. She watched the first episode of the new Daredevil series on Netflix and got proper stuck into the drama from there. She followed the twists and turns over the 13 episodes and watched it to the end being very satisfied with the experience. (No she didn’t do it in the one sitting, she did look after her children!)
What got her was just how compelling the storyline is. The plot progress as well as character development grabbed her attention and did not relent for one moment. She got engaged and involved with the characters. She saw the deliberate manner in which there were no absolutes in terms of good and evil with the character. She saw the agony that all parties went through with the decisions they had to make. When she gets involved she applies to her own life and makes the connections. It’s a delight to see. I reckon people would be as riveted to her watching the programme as the programme itself. I am highly amused by it all.
What she continues to teach me, though, is how important it is to create something compelling. It’s all well and good grabbing attention, but the only reason why you’ll keep it and maximise it is because of whatever is compelling.
It’s a pity that often the Christian narrative is painted in a way that is not so compelling. Indeed if you’re not careful it can just become one of those ritual routine things you do almost without thinking and without any significance. You wake up, you brush your teeth, you might the say a prayer, you might even stretch to reading a devotional as if it’s your horoscope, you eat breakfast, feed the dog, say hello to the children, go to work, come back from work, say hello to the dog, feed the children, watch some awful docudrama on channel 253, have some dinner/tea, get yourself to bed and then say a prayer before nodding off to sleep.
It’s sad that it should be that way when the life we’re meant to be following was one of the most compelling lives in history. You watched His actions, you heard His words, you saw His emotions, you would follow Him with great interest because the Kingdom agenda lead him to live a compelling life. That’s not to say we have to be contrived and take on outlandish tasks as though God isn’t glorified unless you’re looking to do something MEGA.
It is to say Kingdom living is compelling viewing. It’s compelling on the individual level and that goes up exponentially when we see it lived in relationships and community. How do we deal with tension? Disagreement? Wrongdoing? How do we bear each other’s sins? How do we encourage each other to good works? How do we live in a way that does not conform to the world around us?
All that is compelling living – which isn’t always viewed in the routine of three songs, a prayer, a scripture reading, another song, collecting money, hearing a brother talk at you for 45 minutes to an hour and then a call for anyone to be prayed for before it’s time for tea.
This is compelling viewing where we are not just seeing what God is doing, we’re invited to be a part of it. Likewise as others see it they too can be inclined to contribute and then participate in living this kind of life.
To her credit, witnessing her commitment to Christ is another reason why watching my wife is compelling viewing.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 