Staged Life

“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.” (Matthew 6:1 MSG)

When putting a house on the market for sale, many realtors recommend hiring staging companies to make your house more presentable. These professionals often remove existing furniture and other useful things like clothes, toys, books, cookware, memorabilia, etc., to make the house look more appealing to buyers. The kitchen counters will not have any of the practical things that a family would use--toasters, coffee makers, dish drying racks, cutting boards, etc. Instead, they remove all those things that make a kitchen useful and put something decorative on the counter--like a jar of lemons. If the sellers are still living in the house, this can be very inconvenient. They are forced to live pseudo lives until their homes sell. I am surprised that buyers find staged homes appealing. I would rather see a home that is clean and real. I would want to know that the rooms could accomodate large beds and that there was enough countertop space for my small appliances. Unfortunately, sellers, buyers, real estate agents, and stagers all accept these fabrications as status quo.

Staging a house is bad enough, but some individuals also choose to have staged lives. Their primary goal is to look appealing and present themselves in an appealing way to others. They eschew practicality in favor of aesthetics. Every good deed is done for applause. Every action is a performance. Every experience is engineered and filtered for social media.  While it’s common practice to present oneself in the best light, it can create feelings of inadequacy in observers who mistake the staged version for reality.

“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds.” (Matthew 6:2 MSG)

As followers of Christ, we are called to seek God’s glory, not call attention to ourselves. God is not impressed by performances of faith. We may get applause from other phony people, but their approval is counterfeit and, thus, has no value. Let us live with authenticity, simplicity, and humility as we seek to honor God in every action.