Charlton Heston and Moses

CHARLTON HESTON AND MOSES by Ray Pritchard Years ago Charlton Heston was interviewed on The Merv Griffin Show. This was at a time in Mr. Heston’s career when he had gained much notoriety over his two mega-movies, The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur. During the interview Merv Griffin asked him, “Has your spiritual outlook changed any because of these two movies?” Charlton Heston thought for a moment and then replied, “Well, Merv, you can’t walk barefoot down Mount Sinai and be the same person you were when you went up.” That’s a great answer. This is exactly the way Moses felt coming down from the mountain as well. His face was glowing because he had been captured by the vision of God’s glory. Any vision has a way of doing that in life. Peter sees a miracle of the Lord filling his nets with fish and leaves everything to follow Christ. Paul sees the vision of our risen Lord on the road to Damascus and is transformed from a terrorist into an evangelist. John saw a vision of the Second Coming and it made him forget that he was exiled on the lonely island of Patmos. Throughout church history, men and women have laid aside lesser important motivations to follow the vision Christ has put into their hearts to make a difference in the world. If you are a Christian, God has been planning something important for you do since before you were born. In his book Wild at Heart, John Eldredge suggests that every man needs a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a Beauty to win. But the problem with most men is that we have been so domesticated and so tamed that we think the Great Commission means, “Go into all the world and be nice.” No one ever changed the world simply by being nice. The Bible says that Moses was “meek,” but that doesn’t mean he was weak. You can’t be a weakling and go toe-to-toe with Pharaoh or lead over a million people across the Red Sea and through the wilderness for 40 years. Moses was a tough customer with some rough edges, yet his heart was bent to do the will of God. He was far from perfect, but he spoke with God as a man speaks to his friend. I am reminded of C. S. Lewis’s description of the great lion Aslan: “Is he safe? Oh no, but he is good.” It was the martyred missionary, Jim Elliott, who said, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Serving Jesus won’t always be safe, and not everyone will think you are “nice” all the time, but you will never regret your decision to follow him. Have you caught God’s vision for your life?