Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26 NIV)
It didn’t bother me when I first heard talk of my show getting canceled, but once that cancellation became a reality, I fell into a slump.
I had believed that the show would help my career, which in turn would increase my income, which in turn would provide more security, which in turn would free me up to serve God. I was sorely mistaken in my thinking.
I had put my faith in wealth for security when I should have turned to God for true security.
Two weeks after my show had been canceled, one week after being elected the leader of our small group, and just days after I surrendered my life to Jesus, my wife and I drove to Hollywood Boulevard to visit a friend of hers, who had opened a stationary and gift shop there. Since I knew that she would want to spend a few hours with her friend, and since I felt out of place loitering around teenyboppers in the Hello Kitty aisle, I told her that I’d hang out at the wax museum across the street so that she and her friend could take their time catching up.
The wax museum featured recreations of iconic movie scenes, with decent likenesses of famous actors in full costume, holding authentic props, on highly detailed background displays. I wistfully pretended that I was on a movie set, thinking about my broken dreams of working in the entertainment industry. However, I knew that God had other plans for me, and I surrendered to Him fully.
As I leaned on the rail guarding one display, I prayed and told God that I accepted the loss of my show as His will. I also asked, “Are we, as Christians, not supposed to have dreams and ambitions?”
I sensed God telling me that my dream should be to be with Him forever.
That quiet voice in my spirit asked, “Why did you want to work in the film industry? Was it to be famous?”
I couldn’t hide anything. I had to confess this as true.
“And why did you want to be famous? So you could be immortalized like one of these cheesy wax figures?”
Got me again, God.
I glanced at the display before me– a reenactment of a scene from a blockbuster released over fifteen years earlier. The wax figure’s likeness was off, with an unnaturally glossy complexion and a bad hairpiece on its head. “Cheesy” was right, and I knew that in a few years, when this film would no longer be as popular as films that would come later, this display would be dismantled, just like other displays I had seen elsewhere in the museum, being torn down to make way for the next big thing.
Fame, fortune, popularity. All fleeting.
God used this moment to remind me that true immortality comes only through Jesus, who was resurrected after His death on the cross and offers us the gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23).
I didn’t see this incident as an admonishment to Christians to give up career dreams or ambitions– some of these might very well be God-given. What happened to me at the wax museum was God’s way of straightening out my priorities, to show me how I had idolized my television show, placing all of my hopes into its success and potential material gain, when my hope should have been in God alone.
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matt. 6:31-33)
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