I walked by my television late last night, just in time to see Kevin Costner come on the late show. Some of my all-time favorite movies are his sports movies. He’s got a new movie out that we want to see, “McFarland, USA,”so I stopped for a few moments to listen to what he had to say.
The host said to Costner, “Baseball is a sport that most people identify you with… Is it easier for you, having played baseball growing up, to play a baseball player? Would it be hard for you to play an athlete in a sport you didn’t play?”
Costner replied, “It’s impossible… Olivier might have been our greatest actor, but if he could not throw a ball, he cannot act it. Actors are famous for going, ‘I roller skate. I horseback ride. I can play sports.’ And I say, ‘No you can’t!’ Even a non-athlete can recognize the person that can’t do it…”
He’s right, isn’t he? Why was Costner so believable as a baseball player in “Bull Durham,””Field of Dreams” and “For the Love of the Game”? Because he was a baseball player!
The same is true in the Christian life. There are a lot of people who try to act like Christians, but fail miserably. You can’t ACT like a Christian… you’ve got to BE a Christian! And even after you become a Christian, it takes time before you start looking like a Christian.
Jesus said, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5b)
Just like working on the fundamentals in baseball (hitting, catching, throwing and running), we need to focus on the fundamental skills needed to be successful in the Christian life. Let’s stop ACTING like Christians, and just BE Christians!