I have been in a number of drama productions and I have learned that a good actor always stays in character when on stage, but a great actor can stay in character even when backstage.
It's certainly easy enough to act when onstage, but who would want to act offstage??? Offstage is where you relax. You don't have hundreds of people staring at you. You don't have lights glaring down upon you. You're free from that character.
But when you can stay in character backstage it helps you totally grasp the character onstage. When you completely adopt a role, you and that role become inseparable. The part becomes your identity. You'll find it hard not to act like that character. Your friends might wonder what happened to you.
I'm not a great actor. As soon as I step off that stage I'm back to myself. Back to being Laura Grace "Aloysius" Marchbank. And I have heard time and again my director saying "Don't leave character as soon as you step off the stage." And yet when I'm back amongst my friends I don't want to act my part around them. I don't want to be the snob, or the nagging wife, or the innocent little girl anymore. I want to be ME. And this desire to be ME backstage is inhibiting me from fully adopting my character onstage. I cannot portray my part well without letting that part be my identity.
Are we like this as Christians? Do we only play the part of a Christian at church? Do we fully adopt the role? Do we leave character as soon as we're out off church? Is that all Christianity is to us? A character? Do we not want to be the Christian around our friends? Do we not let that character become our identity? Do we feel like we have to be that role at church? Do we feel like people are watching us at church? Do we feel like we have to make them believe we are that part? Do we feel like we're under the spotlight at church? What about at home? At work? At school? Why do we feel like we don't have to be a Christian there? Do we feel like our friends will wonder what happened to us? Is this how it is with me?
Is this how it is with you? Ask yourself.
My prayer is not that God will help me be a better actor onstage and offstage, but that He will help me be a better Christian at church and in my daily life. I pray that He will help me fully grasp my role as a Christian. I pray that I will desire to be a Christian "offstage", when not at church, when at home, when at work. I pray that He will not let me leave character. I pray that I will listen to my Ultimate Director.
I pray this for you too. Don't be a Christian at church only. Completely adopt your role. Let it become your identity.
