milli vanilli

Back in the 8th grade I was part of a lip synch contest with a couple of my friends. We came up with this idea to choreograph our lip synch to the music of Milli Vanilli. I won't beat around the bush. I thought it was a brilliant idea. In fact, I still chortle deep within at the thought of three Jr. High guys dancing and doing a lip synch to the tune of the two most scandalous lip synch kings in contemporary pop history. Apparently the irony was lost on my pre-teen peers. (We got second place- lost to a Michael Jackson act by a nose... then Jacko lost his nose!)

Anyway, I was thinking about the whole matter of this farce. Milli Vanilli won a Grammy by moving their lips to another guy's music. We gather around our TVs to see which person will take home the grand-daddy of all knick-knacks for portraying someone else's perception of someone else's life. We eat fake food every day then sit down to watch produced shows about a stranger's false "reality." We are hooked on farce! The biggest fear I have is that the greatest farce is being played out in the churches of America. Do we really worship God? Do we really love one another as we do ourselves? Do we really bring to our Savior the firstfruits of all we are and do? Do we really care, even a little bit, about the orphan and widow and poor and imprisoned? Do we really believe that what God says in his Word is truth? Or are we playing roles in a play that will earn us respect from our peers and ease our consciences just enough to go back to enjoying our sinful lives? Is this life just a stained-glass masquerade, as the band Casting Crowns put it?

God is true. His power is real. His will is sure. His expectations are firm. His love is steadfast. We need to quit doing our choreographed, mass marketed, nip-tuck, lip synch. We can not afford to continue giving lip service to the Body of Christ, to the Word of God, and to the power of the Holy Spirit. Lives are on the line.