Are you guilty of showrooming?

My childhood friend had invited me over to his house. As we made our way through the dwelling to the back yard, he showed me “the room.”

Blocking the entrance to the expensively decorated front room was a red velvet rope, just like the ones you see in movie theaters.

No, I’m not kidding.

The entrance was roped off to keep anyone from entering and soiling the perfect decor of the room. A deeply-cushioned white carpet gave way to red silk curtains accenting a broad window, and a white couch and chairs rarely sat on were prominently featured in the middle of the room. Expensive oil paintings hugged the walls and a baby grand piano dominated the far corner of the room.

It was a “living room” in which very little “living” ever took place.

But it was a very nice showroom.

The owners of the house used the room to put on display an image they wanted others to have about them. Rarely did they take down the velvet rope and invite people to enter and enjoy fellowship and friendship in the pretty showroom. The room was used to project a faux image of how these people lived, rather than demonstrate how they really lived day to day.

Is your church guilty of showrooming?

Do you offer a “pretty room” on Sunday mornings that rarely gives way to real fellowship and friendship? Do you showroom an image of how you want others to think you live, but doesn’t match how you actually live when you leave the showroom?

Or do you invite the lost into your real living rooms and share real life, real love, and real friendship with them?

Scotty