God Invites You to Step Inside the Circle

On a recent visit to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN, I asked an usher what the large wooden circle on the stage represented. She explained the 6-foot circle was once on the stage at the Ryman Auditorium where the Opry was originally performed, and where featured performers were asked to "step inside the circle."

To this day, the circle remains, as they say at the Opry, "unbroken," with country artists still stepping into the circle to perform.

As I watched the show that evening, I began thinking about how God wants us to step inside his circle. How we should be ready to perform for an audience of believers and non-believers, the script proclaiming God's unlimited love he penned in the Bible through the work of the Holy Spirit.

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." (1 John 4:11-12)

I also thought about how Christians throughout the world, regardless of country, nationality, race, and denomination were to stand in the circle on the stage of the God's universal Church, his Kingdom here on earth, and how that circle will remain unbroken no matter what comes against it.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-19)

Unlike at the Grand Ole Opry, when you and I step into God's circle, we should not expect the spotlight to be on us. And yet, the spotlight is on us, showing others how we act as Christ followers.