Playing Love

There is an interesting phrase from Pushkin's poem that the world has caught and offers as its response to evaluating what is happening: "What is our life? A game!" And there is a grain of truth in this.

And Shakespeare once wrote: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." The question arises: "So who are the audience?"

With your permission, I will describe my view on the theme of this chapter.

Born into this world, I did not think about the meaning of life but simply lived as the situation and my environment required.

From an early age, I began to understand that every society has its behavioral rules, and I must adapt to this regulations. Somewhere these rules are written down, somewhere they are conditional and established by those with greater authority, and somewhere I must invent a role for myself to fit into the overall atmosphere and be accepted or attract attention.

Such an approach to life is inherent in every person, but everyone plays their role in their own way.

Soviet society formed a special type of thinking in us, and although this system collapsed, our mentality did not disappear. A new regime was replaced by another ideology that offered its game with greater possibilities.

The Lord used the resulting vacuum during the destruction of communism's bastions and gave the post-Soviet space the Gospel. I fell under this stream of light and accepted with all my heart what Heaven offered. I studied a new scenario for a better life with Jesus and decided to act exactly as God proposes. All my life values were revised, and I replaced what did not correspond to Heavenly criteria. I became an actor in a new production called "Eternal Life". I ask you not to be frightened by such a comparison and title. The theme is quite serious.

An actor is a kind of performer who plays the life of a character according to a scenario he has chosen. And to make this role look real, the actor needs to immerse himself in a new image, make it part of himself, pass through his heart all necessary statements, including appropriate facial expressions and gestures. And all this influences the artist's behavior. He immerses himself in the proposed image and becomes the one he plays. The law of gazing comes into effect: I am transformed into what I look at. The actor's words, even if feigned, form a certain character and manner of behavior, and the viewer picks up the seen type and no longer wants to see this artist in another role.

When God offers me something new, at first it seems like a change of scenery. I am not used to living like this, but I understand with my mind that it is better and more useful. And I dare to take such a step, and sometimes even yearn for it. And if my previous path's direction was in a certain direction, the new life with God led me in a completely opposite direction, contrary to the usual course of life, and the Lord began to give me the strength and means for this.

My new role began to harmonize amazingly with the desires of my new heart. It seemed as if it was no longer I who lived, but Christ lived in me. My new role transformed my mind and changed my character so much that I became what I initially tried to play, and now I am no longer an actor but a representative of that Heavenly type who lives by Heaven's laws and does not plan to change anything, but is tuned only to improve and fulfill.

At a certain moment in my opera, the Lord transferred me to a new stage of developing my skill and offered me an amazing scenario called "Love". I myself understood that I lacked this character trait to correctly play the main role, and when I realized this and began to understand that without love, I am nothing, and my entire life is an empty sound, and I have no benefit from my transformations, then my prayers to the Main Director became different. And the Lord began to teach me a new art of love, which I initially had to play unnaturally to understand how it works through my habitual thoughts and feelings. And surprisingly — the play began to work out. I immediately noticed the difference between love and its absence and decided to always love and take this new soul property into any company to play a genuine person.

I have so immersed myself in the role of a loving person that it is no longer clear who is playing whom. Either I am playing love, no longer distinguishing where I am and where it is, or it is playing in me, sometimes inserting my human characteristics into my behavior so that I can somehow live in this world, since I have a part of earthly origin.

Love is observant. It perfectly sees who plays what role in church and in life. It is impossible to deceive. Although it believes in everything, it can compare what it sees and hears with reality. It weighs everything on its scales, passing through its filters.

Playing love is not a dangerous theater that presents me as a hypocrite in God's eyes. I cannot play this role without the power of the Holy Spirit, who first transforms my heart, making it new, fleshly, and then writes God's thoughts and laws of love into it, which I initially play as something unusual and new, and then as my own.

God does not give His love as a mask for a hypocrite. He hands it over as a new face that reflects the state of the heart. Although for me it is a game, it is a game that makes me what God desires to see me as.

We are all people of mood. Sometimes I do not know whom I will meet on another morning in my house. Everything depends on the mood of this miracle that lives with me under one roof. I am accustomed to the fact that seasons and various climatic seasons are also inherent in people of a certain mindset, so I am no longer surprised by anything. Although I often hear in response: "Take me as I am," but I cannot always predict what this miracle will be today or after my honest recognition when I decide to do something.

Now about you. If I can call myself an actor and honestly say that I am a player in the theater of life, I have no right to call you the same. It is not in my competence. You decide for yourselves who you are and what you play. You are all real and unpredictable to me. The world can turn you however it wants, but love will make you a stable and firm person if you allow it.

In the message to Laodicea, I am offered a new role of a person rich in love and faith, a new outfit that makes me dressed, and new thinking that opens my eyes. I am not sure how well all this will fit me and whether I will cope. But the Lord knows my size and takes into account my characteristics, handing me new purchases. He believes in me and offers me to practice in the new role of a hot person, offers to be zealous in this performance. But interestingly, by entering a new role, I play myself and see how such a scenario corresponds to the Heavenly standard. And love is no longer a game of beautiful words but the image of my thoughts and expression of my sincere feelings. Although I am a poor person with a perishable nature, having joined the Heavenly trade, I no longer wish to live by other rules. I simply cannot play the world anymore, trying to look like my own in it. I choose love. It somehow feels more familiar and simpler. Although not everyone understands me, this language is familiar to angels. This is the language of God.

Questions for Reflection on this Chapter

1. Please read 1 Timothy 1:5-7; Hebrews 19:32-35; 12:1-2; Matthew 25:20-21; Psalm 118:73; Job 20:5; 27:8; Galatians 2:29; Ephesians 1:9-19; Colossians 1:26-28; James 4:8-10; Matthew 23:15; 23:28; 2 Corinthians 3:5-6,18; 4:1-4; Ezekiel 36:25-28; Psalm 21:18; Luke 12:1; 23:48; Proverbs 1:20-33; 11:9; Judges 21:25 in light of this chapter.

2. What did you understand from this chapter?

3. Do you understand the difference between hypocrisy and spiritual growth?

4. Does your life resemble a theater game where everyone writes their own rules?

5. Is it worth starting something new and useful sometime? If yes, what does it start with?

6. When you were born for Christ and decided to grow, did everything work out correctly for you?

7. Who is the audience in our theater of life?

8. Are you not embarrassed by comparing spiritual growth to a theater play?

9. Do you understand that this chapter is not about theatrical productions?

10. If a person very often repeats the same action, is it possible that they will get used to it?

11. If I understand that I need to do some things correctly, but I cannot, will my attempt to start doing something be called hypocrisy?

12. When can "Playing Love" become dangerous for the soul?

13. If I decide to love someone but do not know how to do it correctly but try something, and it does not work out, how should this be called?

14. Is it worth learning to love if I do not have it at all?

15. What is love for when we have mobile phones?