All the World's a Stage

I imagine you've heard the phrase, "All the world's a stage."

In the cyberspace era, those words mean more than ever. When you write, you usually reach an audience. My free lance articles sometimes took a year to see the light of day, but a newspaper article appeared the next day. Now with the internet, what we write can appear on the world theater in seconds.

The world's been a stage since the beginning of time and an Audience watches each person perform.

William Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..."
(As You Like It, Act 2 scene 7).

Shakespeare wrote that in the 16th or early 17th Century, and the same Audience watched diligently in his time. Our performance also is viewed by that Audience. Some people fear the Audience because of the power represented. If they don't merit a rave review, they fear a lighning bolt. The vast majority, however, ignore the Watchful Eyes and unless their performance ends as a major disaster, they don't want advice.

We're told in Proverbs 15:3, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."

When I was a kid we used to sing a song, "There's an all-seeing eye watching you." That kept me from submitting to temptation on numerous occasions.

But there is so much more to our Audience. Jesus said, "Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:29-30NLT).

That's good news. Yes, the world's a stage and we're on it--and the Audience is loving and compassionate. Yet, if we ignore Him totally, Judgment Day will come.

"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many: and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time unto salvation" (Hebrews 9:27-28).