the basic message #E336
5/13/05
"If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
When Jesus made this statement in John 8:31-32, he was talking to Jews, but I think we can agree that his admonition was meant for everyone. How we conduct ourselves as Christians is under the watchful eye of our Savior, and it puzzles me as to why so many Christians flip-flop from the world to God without much prompting. Have you been watching "The Apprentice" this season? For whatever reason, I like this show. Sure, Mark Burnett and Donald Trump are doing it for the money, but what TV show isn't in it for the money?
As I write this, we're less than a week away from finding out who this season's apprentice will be. All that is left is two women- one with "street smarts" and one with "book smarts". The one with street smarts is a woman named Tana, and the book smarts lady is Kendra. I'll speculate at this point Kendra will win next week, but that's not the subject of this week's message. If you watch the show regularly, you can probably guess where I'm heading with this: "Tana's Christianity".
Early in this season's "Apprentice", it became clear that Tana and Craig had become very close. So close, in fact, that I made the erroneous assumption that they were both single and that romance was in the air. I found out later that both are married with children. Whether romance was or wasn't a factor, I don't know, nor do I care. What I do care about is the scene that shows Tana and Craig kneeling together in prayer. I was (and am) impressed that they prayed together during the program, but was that for show or as a testimonial? Again, I can't make the call on this, nor is it my place to do so.
Matthew 7:1-2
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
If I make the mistake of judging Tana and Craig, I'm running the risk of being judged as well. Craig has already been fired, so he's no longer an issue, but since Tana is in the final showdown her role as a Christian is under the microscope. In this week's episode, Tana and Kendra were both given very difficult tasks to achieve in a small amount of time. To make things even more interesting, Trump brought in some of the previously fired candidates to work with them. In typical Trump fashion, he brought in the people that Kendra and Tana liked least. Tana wasted no time asking if she could "swap" some team members, and that question was answered very quickly "no". Throughout this episode, we were able to see both women struggling with their respective team members, but Tana's view of her team was clearly acidic. I know what it feels like to sometimes work with people that don't meet our standards, but here's the beef I have with Tana: She would smile that big Mary Kay saleslady smile and talk warmly to them, but after they walked away she would trash them. The ideal Christian would conduct themselves in a kindly manner regardless of the situation, but I'll be the first to admit I frequently fail to exhibit kindness like I should, but I'm not a hypocrite. Whatever I have to say about someone behind their back will be said first to their face. And by the way, there is a big difference between judging someone and simply making an observation. I'm not judging Tana when I say she dogged-out her team members- you can see that this week on the reruns for yourself. No, I'm simply making an observation that Tana used a two word description to describer her team which had one word bleeped-out, and it looked to me like it started with an "F" and ended with a "g". Use your own imagination.
By now, you must think I'm down on Tana, but that's not the case. Quite frankly, I think Tana could be the National Poster Girl for the Christian movement in America. You see, Tana is much like you and I. She apparently wants to claim a relationship with Jesus Christ, yet her actions indicate she also wants to entertain a relationship with "The Competition" (Satan). The Apostle Paul had a similar problem:
Romans 7:15
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do.
For those of us who like to watch "The Apprentice", Thursday night will tell much about whether Tana only "talks the talk" or if she can really "walk the walk". Here's a bit of advice: rather than nitpick Tana's Christian performance this week, let's take a good look at our own actions. If you're like me, you have plenty of room for improvement.