As part of the process of selling our home, our house has been staged. In the above photo you can see part of our staged bedroom. The pictures, chair, wine glasses, blankets, etc… none of this is ours. Our whole house looks and feels so ‘nice’, yet so fake.

I left the closet open for a reason, that IS our stuff, that IS us. We’ve stuffed our reality in the closet, only letting you see what we want you to see.

Can you see where this story is going, what the analogy is for following Jesus? Are we not guilty of staging our own lives, putting on a good show before others. We do not want people to see our real stuff, so we hide that in the closet. Living a staged life, like living in a staged house, is hard and unsatisfying. The truth is not so easily hidden, and eventually people see what you got in the closet.

Jesus came to clean out the closet, to make us clean on the inside. “You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence… First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” (Matthew 23:25-26) Jesus is not looking at my public performance – going to church, giving money, good deeds. He’s not that impressed with my stage show as a minister on Sunday mornings… He’s looking in my closet.

Until we face what we’re hiding in our closets, life will be hard and unsatisfying. When we’re honest about our ‘stuff’, then we can discover the wonder of Jesus’ gracious love. We will also help others to see that they’re no worse than us, and there’s grace for them too! Our world needs more REAL Jesus followers, not more STAGED ones.