A View From The Cheap Seats

In life we can we find ourselves spectators rather than active participants. Sometimes we observe from such a far position that we feel we aren't even a part of the action, like that time I saw a play from so far back in the balcony that I could rest my head against the back wall of the theater. 

Sometimes being distant from action in the lives of others is exactly what the gospel instructs since we are not be busybodies, nor it’s companion sin, gossip. (2 Thess 1:13; 1 TIm. 5:13; 1 Pet. 4:15) When things are not our business we need to be way back in the cheap seats. We do notice things since we are active and engaged in life and regularly interact with others, but we aren’t to be involved in every facet of everybody’s lives. 

Yet at other times we are in way in the back and disconnect when we shouldn't be. I remember an event I paid to go to at the Astrodome only a few rows from very top of the building. I could see individual horses, but had no idea who was on them. And when the concert portion started, I would have had no idea who was on stage except for the large video screens. It was like watching people watch a concert. 

That kind of disconnection and distance from people is not what we need. We are not just spectators in life. The rich man saw Lazarus at his gate and acted only as a spectator. Paul spoke of his deep connection to others in 2Co 11:29“Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?”

So sometimes the cheap seats, way in the back, out the way, not involved is exactly where we are supposed to be.  Other times, hanging back, uninvolved, physically or emotionally distant from the action and where we cannot provide the help and support we should be.