men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." What did He mean by that? A couple of stories may help us understand it better.
The first story involves the actress Meryl Streep. Several years ago, Streep starred in the film "Ironweed," in which she played a ragged derelict who dies in a cheap hotel room. For more than half an hour before the scene was shot, she hugged a huge bag of ice cubes, in an effort to experience how it feels to be a corpse. Jack Nicholson, playing opposite her, sobbed and screamed
and shook her body, but through take after take--and even between takes--Streep laid there as if she really was dead.
One frightened member of the crew whispered to the director, "What's going on? She's not breathing!"
But the filming continued. Even after the filming was completed, Meryl continued to lie there, gray, cold, still. Only after ten minutes passed did she slowly, slowly emerge from this coma-like state into which she had deliberately placed herself.
The director, watching closely, was amazed. He muttered, "Now that is acting! That is an actress!"
When others scrutinize our lives, when they hear our verbal professions and compare them to our lives, will they exclaim, "Now that is a Christian!"?
The second story involves Calvin Coolidge, who was the 30th President of the United States. When he served under Warren G. Harding as Vice-President, he established a reputation of being very quiet and reserved. He became known as "Silent Cal." One story (that may or may not be true!) is that one woman seated next to him at a party said to him, "Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet with a friend that I could get you to say more than two words."
Coolidge replied, "You lose."
When he was told in January of 1933 that Coolidge had died, journalist H. L. Mencken responded with, "How can they tell?"
Since the body of Jesus is no longer here with us, the closest thing the world can see of the Body of Christ is the Church. When we proclaim that Jesus lives, that He truly can make a difference in our lives, does the unbelieving world look at us and say, "How can you tell?"
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com