Cheering At Yourself

I notice this at just about every sporting event I attend or watch on television: there is always that break in the game where a camera pans the sea of fans and conveys its view on the big JumboTron.  Virtually every time, the fans who are lucky enough to get face time on the JumboTron start cheering like crazy...at the JumboTron.  Consequently, these fans start cheering at themselves, making for an awkward image for everyone else watching.

Yes, it is one of the most illogical and humorous things a human can do.  Of course, it's reasonable to expect this to happen since the fans usually only get a few seconds to cheer while they're on the JumboTron and it's difficult for someone to keep their wits enough about them in order to pause, extrapolate the approximate location of the camera, turn your body towards that approximate location, check the JumboTron to make sure you are correct, and then begin to cheer.  (Of course, this is speaking on behalf of the average human.  This situation might be hugely easier for a genius to process in a few nanoseconds.)

But it illustrates something that I find myself doing whenever I read the Bible, or any other writings that are meant to encourage me as a Christian.

These writings shine a wonderfully warm and awakening light on me, and after reading their words I am refreshed, renewed, and reminded.  But too often I'm like those fans cheering at the image of themselves up on the JumboTron.  I read those words, I see the nice things it says about and for me, and I cheer.  I don't pause to think about the lens through which I see myself before I respond.

That lens is, of course, Christ, without whom my vision of myself and everything around me would be distorted and ruined.

I have to learn to pause, turn towards the camera, and then cheer so that I can show my joy, appreciation, and gratitude to the viewing audience, and not just to myself.