All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
---William Shakespeare
What is the meaning of life, and how much is your life worth in your own eyes as well as in the eyes of others?
According to William Shakespeare's seven ages, your latter years will be no more than the days of your infancy because you will return to a second childhood, at which time you will depend on others to take care of you, to feed you, to read bedtime stories to you, and to clean up after you.
Shakespeare's assessment does not give us much hope, does it?
Do you think of yourself as no more than an actor on a stage, playing your role in the play, and the clothes you wear is the uniform of your character? Is that all there is to your life?
In two or perhaps in no more than three generations from now, people in your own family line will know no more about you than a name etched on a tombstone. Unless you leave a written record of your life, people will have blank faces when they hear or read your name. They will never know about your dreams, your accomplishments, nor possess any of the things you leave behind. Were you no more than an actor, or a character, on Shakespeare's stage of life? Did you play your bit part, only to disappear behind the curtain and be seen no more?
In the eyes of the world, we are no more than Shakespeare's description: actors on the stage of life, living the seven ages of man in a lifetime, only to die, return to dust, and never to be known thereafter. So much for the inscription, "GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN".
For as we look at the world as Shakespeare's stage of life, we see two groups of men as the stars of the show, the dominate players, the ones at center stage, and constantly in the spotlight. Their names are in newspaper headlines, and their images are ever-constant on magazines, tabloids, and television. These are the men of politics and the men of religion, and people all over the world follow them as minor characters in the play, bowing at their feet as gods, feasting from their words, and believing that they are leading us to a new frontier, or to a promised land flowing with milk and honey, and that we are to keep the dream alive in the minds of children, the future generations of fantasy and make-believe.
Over the past two thousand years, such men have been actors of the same role, spinning the same yarn, and people have been living the same script that they have written; for on Shakespeare's stage of life and seven ages, there is no room for God, nor for Christ, nor for the Bible.
When God is not included in the lives of people, they are no more than puppets on the strings of their masters. For across the world today, the knowledge of God is becoming less and less known, and Jesus, in the minds of many, many people, is no more than a imaginary character for Christmas and Easter.
While millions of people, however, believe in God, believe in Christ, and believe in the Bible, our roles are not important on the stage of this world, for we are outcasts, unimportant, and not wanted.
On Shakespeare's stage, we are no more than characters in a play, performing our parts, and, after we die, another person picks up our script, takes our clothes, and follows the same performance as servants and slaves to the men of politics and the men of religion.
Jesus said, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8: 36-37)
So then, what do we profit if we follow the men of politics and the men of religion who have gained the whole world, but have lost their souls?
---William Shakespeare
What is the meaning of life, and how much is your life worth in your own eyes as well as in the eyes of others?
According to William Shakespeare's seven ages, your latter years will be no more than the days of your infancy because you will return to a second childhood, at which time you will depend on others to take care of you, to feed you, to read bedtime stories to you, and to clean up after you.
Shakespeare's assessment does not give us much hope, does it?
Do you think of yourself as no more than an actor on a stage, playing your role in the play, and the clothes you wear is the uniform of your character? Is that all there is to your life?
In two or perhaps in no more than three generations from now, people in your own family line will know no more about you than a name etched on a tombstone. Unless you leave a written record of your life, people will have blank faces when they hear or read your name. They will never know about your dreams, your accomplishments, nor possess any of the things you leave behind. Were you no more than an actor, or a character, on Shakespeare's stage of life? Did you play your bit part, only to disappear behind the curtain and be seen no more?
In the eyes of the world, we are no more than Shakespeare's description: actors on the stage of life, living the seven ages of man in a lifetime, only to die, return to dust, and never to be known thereafter. So much for the inscription, "GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN".
For as we look at the world as Shakespeare's stage of life, we see two groups of men as the stars of the show, the dominate players, the ones at center stage, and constantly in the spotlight. Their names are in newspaper headlines, and their images are ever-constant on magazines, tabloids, and television. These are the men of politics and the men of religion, and people all over the world follow them as minor characters in the play, bowing at their feet as gods, feasting from their words, and believing that they are leading us to a new frontier, or to a promised land flowing with milk and honey, and that we are to keep the dream alive in the minds of children, the future generations of fantasy and make-believe.
Over the past two thousand years, such men have been actors of the same role, spinning the same yarn, and people have been living the same script that they have written; for on Shakespeare's stage of life and seven ages, there is no room for God, nor for Christ, nor for the Bible.
When God is not included in the lives of people, they are no more than puppets on the strings of their masters. For across the world today, the knowledge of God is becoming less and less known, and Jesus, in the minds of many, many people, is no more than a imaginary character for Christmas and Easter.
While millions of people, however, believe in God, believe in Christ, and believe in the Bible, our roles are not important on the stage of this world, for we are outcasts, unimportant, and not wanted.
On Shakespeare's stage, we are no more than characters in a play, performing our parts, and, after we die, another person picks up our script, takes our clothes, and follows the same performance as servants and slaves to the men of politics and the men of religion.
Jesus said, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8: 36-37)
So then, what do we profit if we follow the men of politics and the men of religion who have gained the whole world, but have lost their souls?
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