On Display for the
Master
Have you ever wandered through one of those large pottery display rooms in a major tourist area? Whether it's in Williamsburg, Virginia, or Old Town in San Diego, California, you'll quickly notice that a majority of the clay containers or vases are utilitarian reddish-brown in color. Their purpose is rather basic, to provide a container for soil and plants or a flower arrangement.
Yet when you go into the airport gift shop in Phoenix, Arizona, for example, you will see some beautiful painted clay vessels on display. They are clearly objects of art, designed to help beautify a room. Travelers take them home to their wives or give them to their friends as special gifts.
Most of us Christians consider ourselves rather plain and ordinary. We are happy to stay out of the spotlight so we don't need to feel self-conscious about our too-long noses, mousy hair, or pear-shaped bodies. We'll gladly let the "beautiful people" take the spotlight, even while we envy their physical beauty.
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Every Vessel on Display
Yet even the clay pot into which you put the ficus tree you set in the corner of your living room is on display. Most of us are rather picky even about the kind of pot, for its shape and perfection of detail speak volumes about our own good taste, or lack thereof. There is a certain beauty in simplicity that speaks of the potter's careful workmanship.
The apostle Paul speaks to this when he wrote about Christians: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us" (2 Cor. 4:7).
What Paul was implying is that when the Master Potter shapes us for His service, He is concerned that we do not become proud of our own beauty, of our intellectual or spiritual gifts, of our education and achievements. When we are on display in the world, those watching us need to become more excited about the power of God working through us than about who we are.
For me, someone who was already in show business when I committed myself to the Master Potter, this was not an easy lesson to learn. I was so used to showing my profile to the camera at a very specific angle, of having my face and hair prepared as though they were all-important, of giving my acting the most intense scrutiny. After a day of shooting was done, I'd spend time looking at the "rushes," examining every move I had made, every facial angle, to improve my professional performance.
An experience I had during the second World War illustrates how unimportant our exterior display is when the heart is right. I was sitting in
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the bulkhead seat of an airplane going from Chicago to California. In the seat next to me was Eleanor Roosevelt. In my weakness, and because of Hollywood's influence, when I looked at her I thought, She is so homely. But then I started talking with her, and she started asking me questions. Out of her eyes came such caring concern that I was overwhelmed. She had a sweetness and a caring that just spilled out — and she was not unattractive anymore.
I was reading a prayer book at the time, so I asked her to sign the flyleaf, one of only two people I have ever asked for an autograph.
The Master Potter used others as well to reshape my attitude. You'll remember how surprised I was when Dick Halverson refused to take any credit for his singing, simply saying, "Praise the Lord." After all, he had sung extremely well, communicating most effectively the message of Christ. Why would he not accept my words of appreciation? From his example, from how others served in humility as servants, and from my study of the Bible, I came to realize that humble service to the Master Potter deflects attention from us to the Lord.
Faith on Display
I discovered that one key to being a vessel unto honor through a humble, servant attitude is to be aware that we are on display at all times for the Master Potter. No matter how insignificant we are, someone is watching us and evaluating our Master Potter's ability by how effectively we have let him shape us.
For instance, I used to smoke, not much until I got into the pictures. But sitting around and waiting for
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the crew to change the lights meant interminable waits, and smoking was simply something to do. I never enjoyed it a whole lot, taking one to three puffs then putting the cigarette out.
Shortly after I was married to Roy I took out a cigarette to have a smoke. One of the children said, "I wish you wouldn't smoke. My mommy didn't smoke."
Suddenly I realized I was on display, and it was not a pleasing sight to the children. My smoking was an added negative if I wanted to win them over and be their mother. So I said to her, "I will not smoke another cigarette."
You'll remember my telling about Marguerite Hamilton and her daughter, Nancy, the little girl with the enlarged feet and hands. To the casual observer, what was on display was a misshapen little girl. Yet those of us who got to know Nancy and her mother recognized that her great courage and faith in God's provision was really what was on display. They became the Master Potter's object lesson of caring commitment to one's child no matter what the child looked like. That's the display I needed to see to have my attitudes changed by the Master Potter before Robin arrived as a Down's syndrome child.
After Robin's birth I was having one of my down days. Where did I go? Visit one of the movie stars, one of the great preachers of the day? No, I got into the car and drove to Santa Monica, where Marguerite was managing a small motel. I brought them some meat, vegetables, and fruit from our ranch, since we had our own orchard, beef cattle, and vegetable garden.
Yet I always left with more than I brought, for I always left with my faith renewed, my courage strengthened.
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Nancy's implicit faith that God would supply their every need challenged me, who had a lot more available, to trust God for every need in my life.
Some time ago I was challenged by another example of parents "on display" by the way they cared for their Down's syndrome son. I invited Chris Burke, the star of "Life Goes On," for an interview on my television program, "A Date with Dale." I was impressed with Chris, for the television show is almost built around him. Later I had the privilege of presenting him with one of the two annual awards the Motion Picture Association gives to actors or actresses who have contributed something special to the motion pictures industry.
At the awards ceremony I got up and said, "You cannot possibly know how warm my heart is to be a part of this presentation to Chris Burke, a Down's syndrome person." I was thinking of how they had told me that Robin would never progress beyond the age of five in her mental capacity — and here I was giving an award to a young man with Down's syndrome for his contribution to the movie industry. Just as soon as I used the term Down's syndrome, Chris yelled from the head table, "I'm not a Down's. I'm an up!"
Chris's father and mother, who are Catholics, just poured themselves into this boy. The results were on display, honoring their Christian commitment to their son.
Roy and I are so thrilled at how the Master Potter has been at work in the lives of our children. Yes, we lost three, but the others have all come to know the Lord and have a lively faith in Him. I've already shared that Tom and Barbara went to Germany for one year to serve at a Christian academy for children of missionaries.
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All his life he has given Christ first place, and now that is being reflected in his children as well.
Cheryl, Roy's oldest daughter, is married and lives about an hour from us. There's such a warmth in her home when I walk in. Although initially as a child she was standoffish with me, I now have a real closeness with Cheryl. I get wonderful birthday, Christmas, and Easter cards from her, all with verses that express gratitude, which really gets to me.
Linda Lou, Roy's second daughter, has always had a feeling for the underdog, the less fortunate. She was the one who noticed Nancy's crippled feet first, and called me to invite Marguerite and Nancy into our house. Today Linda Lou is a pastor's wife, ministering to older people in a church near Fresno.
Dusty (Roy Jr.) married a fine Christian woman and was in general construction. When our agent, Art Rush, died, Roy asked if Dusty would move here and help as manager of the museum and set up our appointments. Dusty has been a singer and had his own band at one time, so he knows what is involved. He is doing an outstanding job, while staying active in sports activities with children. He is on the board of the Happy Trails Foundation for Abused Children as well.
Dodie, our little Choctaw adoptee, is married to the son of a Church of Christ pastor, who also has some Indian blood in his family. They, too, live about an hour away, where Dodie is very active in her church. They sponsor a Bible class in their home as well.
We were told at the home where we adopted her that Dodie was three-quarters Choctaw and one-quarter Scottish/Irish.
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However, I found her birth mother when she was fourteen or fifteen, and through that her grandmother, who is active in Indian affairs in Los Angeles. She told Dodie, "You are full-blooded Choctaw."
For a white couple to adopt an Indian child is today a contentious issue among Indians. One day when I had Dodie on location with me, a Cherokee said to me, "You know, you have robbed her or her heritage." Much later I told Dodie about this experience, and she sent me the most beautiful letter. She wrote, "I didn't give up anything being your daughter, despite my Indian heritage. If I had to do it again, I would choose you."
I mentioned earlier that our foster daughter, Marion, is employed as executive-secretary in the Palmdale School District. She is also married and a wonderful Christian, active in her church.
Our children are now our greatest joy, along with our sixteen grandchildren and twenty-seven great-grandchildren, with two more on the way!
A Different Kind of Display
There is another level at which we are on display for the Master Potter, and that is through the people we minister to. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians in that connection: "You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God" (2 Cor. 3:2-3).
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In his first letter to the Corinthians, he expressed similarly: "For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord" (1 Cor. 9:2).
From the apostle Paul's perspective, the people who had come to know Christ through his ministry were on display as validation of God's calling on his life. I wouldn't dare compare myself with the great apostle, but I, too, see people whose lives were changed as a result of my books and public witness, validating God's call. When I think of the thousands of letters from grateful parents who saw their Down's syndrome child in another light, who were given the courage to go on, I'm truly grateful. When I think of the disabled children, now adults, who were helped to a new life through my efforts on their behalf, I'm thankful for my "display."
The Master Potter took a badly marred vessel and reshaped it for a truly worldwide ministry that far surpassed anything I could have done on my own. To Him be the glory!
On Display in the Home
I believe that one area in which Christians are on display is in the area of marriage. True, Christians are a little less likely to become divorced, but the percentage is still shockingly high. In an earlier chapter I wrote about my changed attitude about divorce after I submitted my life to the Master Potter. I was absolutely committed to making my marriage to Roy work.
In the forty-five years since I committed myself to Roy for the rest of my life, attitudes toward divorce in America have changed dramatically. Today more than half of all new marriages will end in divorce.
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So many people seek divorces because of what they describe as incompatibility. I call it failure to learn effective communication.
That's where I believe those of us who have achieved happy, long-term marriages can be the Master Potter's display of what it takes to stay married. In his book The Marriage Savers, Mike McManus presents ways in which we can all help save marriages. One way is to mentor couples whose marriages are troubled. This mentoring is most effective if a pastor provides the leadership to bring together couples who have made it with couples whose marriages are in trouble. Our granddaughter, Candi Halberg, and her husband Todd front "Marriage Ministries" in Littleton, Colorado, near Denver.
Mike McManus tells of a Florida church where the pastor took such an initiative and brought together seven couples as lay mentors. Of the thirty-three deeply troubled marriages they got involved in, none broke up over the next several years.
On Display Through Choices We Make
We are also on display for the Master in the choices we make as those who are being shaped for His service. These choices are illustrated repeatedly in the apostle Paul's letters. Ephesians 4 provides a lengthy list of choices that put us on display, reminding the Ephesians, and us, that they will not be able to make good choices without putting on a new man:
Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph. 4:22-24)
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In the power of this new person, "created according to God," they were to put away lying, anger, thievery, corrupt words, bitterness, clamor, and evil speaking. Quite a list of behaviors that would bring disgrace on the name of the Lord, who made us! But what God wants us to display is kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiveness — beautiful qualities that bring honor to our Lord.
One of the entertainers who knows firsthand what the apostle Paul is talking about is Gavin MacLeod of "Love Boat" fame. After both Gavin and his wife, Patti, came to the Lord some years ago, they had to turn down a lot of "opportunities" that would drag them back to their old way of life.
Gavin told me, "Just last week we turned down an enormous opportunity. We had been praying to the Lord that morning and asking Him if He would please send some money our way because we really happened to need it at the moment. Later that day my agent called from New York with an offer of a prestigious part in a musical in Atlantic City. The problem was that it featured and glorified sin. I called our pastor, Jack Hayford, to talk it over because I felt we just couldn't do it. He gave us great advice, 'You're being tempted because you need the money, just as Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.'
"So we turned it down, and wouldn't you know that just a little while later somebody visited from New York, where they're doing some new
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theater, and he offered me the same part in the very same musical! The devil just doesn't give up."
Satan certainly would love to destroy the testimony we have when we are on display for the Master Potter.
Death to Ego
Yes, being on display for the Master all the time is not easy. But I keep on asking the Lord humbly to get me out of the way so He can be seen in me. When I gave my life to Christ, I died. My ego died. Every now and then it raises its ugly head, but I deal with it by saying, "Down, boy." I tell myself, "This is the Lord's work, so He must get the glory."
The apostle Paul presents our passage through the world as Christians in a truly beautiful way in his letter to the Corinthians:
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. (2 Cor. 2:14-16)
What a beautiful image in a fragrance-oriented society. Amazing how up-to-date some of the apostle's word pictures are. The truth in the image is that some people respond to our witness negatively, only to experience eternal death. Others respond positively, and they gain life eternal.
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Going through the refining fire, being on display to the world, are both part of God's great purpose for us, to be with Him in glory. That's when all the imperfections will be removed and we will truly be vessels unto honor for the Master Potter.
Reflecting on the Shaping
1. Where do you feel you are especially on display for the Master in today's world?
2. What can we learn from 2 Corinthians 4:7 about our role as vessels in God's plan?
3. Identify someone with the kind of sweet, caring inner spirit that Dale found in Eleanor Roosevelt. What can you learn from this person in respect to being on display?
4. How does it make you feel when you think about being on display for the Master?
5. After reading 2 Corinthians 3:2, ask yourself whose "epistle" you are as a Christian.
