Our Hanukkah celebration at my Messianic fellowship, David's Tent, was such a joy and an inspiration! The children acted out the story of the Maccabees, and my heart was deeply stirred to want to reach the level of zeal they had for the God of Israel. When at last the Jewish people had reached a full victory over the evil Antiochus Epiphanes and his armies, and they cleansed and rededicated their Temple, they brought the menorah (lampstand) back in to light the lights. I watched as the young man playing Mattathias held up the fire and lit each of the branches of the menorah and something in my heart was profoundly touched. Do we have enough oil in our lamps to keep burning in this dark world? Are we so zealous for our God that we would die for Him?One little boy playing an enemy soldier was struck down with a toy sword and gave us a very dramatic "agonizing" death scene. Then suddenly, unexpectedly he sat up, his eyes wide with concern, and he shouted out, "Wait! I can't die yet! I haven't said my line!" We roared with laughter. But that whole scene came back to me the next day on Shabbat when I was thinking about the people in their 80s and 90s for whom I teach a Bible study each week. How often they have said to me, "Why are we still here? Why doesn't God take us home? We don't have any reason to be here anymore." Now I want to say to them, "Maybe you haven't said your line yet!"
Have any of us finished all our lines in the script we call life? Not until we draw our last breath. Until that moment we still have opportunity to tell someone about the Messiah. We still have opportunity to show someone love or bring someone a little joy. Yeshua says, "You must work while it is still day; soon it will be night when no one can work."
Once the "sword" of death strikes us we won't be able to sit up and shout, "I can't be dead yet - I haven't said my line!" So we need to say it today while we have breath. We need to be light in this dark world today, while we still have places to shine it. We need to say our lines - filled with love and exhortation - from the pure Word of God - while there are still people with ears to hear.
