I began this new year as many of you by watching the Rose Parade. As beautiful as it is, I must admit that for me there quickly comes the point of saturation when all the bands, horses and floats begin to run together. After that, I go into overload, lose my concentration, and everything becomes a blur of words and color. This year when that point came I let the parade become background. From then on it received an occasional glance while I turned my primary attention to a more immediate project of personal interest.

There is something sad about that. I mean, when you consider the months of planning and preparing, the weeks of ordering and organizing, the days (and nights) of detailed intricate gluing and pasting by hundreds of people, it would seem unthinkable that anyone could treat this great spectacular as only background noise. For me, it was essentially that. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it or think that it was nice. It was simply that I had made no personal investment in it. It pleased me but didn’t involve me. For those who were involved, who had worked hard to put it all together and knew the struggles and problems overcome, this was New Year’s Day. Most were probably too tired even to watch the football game!

That’s the way life is. When we invest ourselves in something, it becomes more than background noise for us. At the same time, it is hard for us to understand why other people can treat something so important in our eyes with what is essentially indifference. If anything, these uninformed “spectators” often are unjustly critical. They fail to appreciate all that has been accomplished, and at the same time feel free to point out flaws and make critical comments about things of which they have little knowledge. The “onlooker” may quickly lose interest or become critical to an extreme, primarily because he has nothing invested and little at stake except for personal pleasure. There is a principle here that we must not miss; excitement, interest and concerned responsibility grow in direct proportion to personal involvement. The “parade watcher” can never
know the same excitement or sense of accomplishment as the participant, nor can his criticisms ever be as valid as those of the person whose first concern is to realize the goal.

Some people treat the moving of God in His Church as a kind of background noise for their lives. It is worthy of only an occasional glance, often subject to uninformed criticism and sometimes treated as simply another of the passing parades that are staged for their pleasure. In consequence, they never catch the real excitement. Their venture into faith remains at the level of spectatorship.

Jesus said, ” … where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” (Mat. 6:21) This statement has been associated mostly with wealth, but the context will show that it is much broader. The principle simply stated: what you involve and invest your life in will be the thing that grips your heart. I would offer a challenge for the new year. Refuse to be a Sunday spectator. Seriously involve yourself in the study of God’s Word, serving Him and being part of the Body of Christ which He is using to build His Church in this place. I can’t say it will be easy, but I will guarantee it will be exciting and satisfying.

–Ojai, 1987