Saved!
Some thoughts after watching the movie “Saved”.
Following Jesus is less about what philosophies or doctrines we subscribe to and more about what we do and how we treat one another. God did not send his son to earth so that we can have a club to join or a springboard for our own broken religious ideas. Jesus is not a platform to lift us up in font of others, winning their praise and acceptance. He didn’t come to start a religion, but rather to start relationships. He is actually the one being in whom we can experience complete acceptance and security; as we are no strings attached. People set up conditions for acceptance. We Christians say we love everyone but what is the application of this? It is not love if we only include the people who include us. That is co-dependency. Love is always giving without questioning. It is identifying ourselves with those who are hurting, because we hurt; and doing what we can to dress their wounds. When we know love –that is to know the one true God who is love- we know that our needs will be met by our God, and that we have no need to be in want for anything. When we realize this truth we are freed from our attachment to ourselves and can attend to the needs of others.
When we find ourselves in community with others who realize this truth our needs are also met through our relationships with other people. Here our motivation is not the expectancy for others to do the same for us, but expectation of God’s provision. We can give without expectation of return from other people and we can not be disappointed when people do not treat us the way Christ instructs us to treat them. Our security is in knowing that God supplies whatever we need, either thought other people or directly from his hand. The greatest way to live is like a bird eating out of the Creator’s hand.
If you have seen the movie “Saved” you might remember the scene where Mary is returning home from visiting Planned Parenthood. She stops in front of a church building with a cross on the side facing the street. With her hands open she looks to the cross and bears her heart to Jesus. “Shit…fuck….God damn.” She defiantly speaks. She feels like God has tricked her. She realizes her social status and image is ruined. She has no one and nothing to hide behind and she is exposed before God. I love this scene and how it plays out. In time she may realize that she misunderstood God’s message and in fact He had not forsaken her; but in the moment she felt betrayed. In the end of movie everything works out. Mary has her baby. Hillary Fay is reduced to tears and realizes how much pain she caused people. Maybe I like this scene so much because I have been there. I have been in that place where I felt like an ass for believing like I did; for thinking I could trust God. And like Mary I realized down the road that my slump was in fact due to my impatience and verdant relationship with my God; that God did in fact have plans for my life and that they we completely other and wholly more beautiful than I could have ever imagined them.
Following Jesus is less about what philosophies or doctrines we subscribe to and more about what we do and how we treat one another. God did not send his son to earth so that we can have a club to join or a springboard for our own broken religious ideas. Jesus is not a platform to lift us up in font of others, winning their praise and acceptance. He didn’t come to start a religion, but rather to start relationships. He is actually the one being in whom we can experience complete acceptance and security; as we are no strings attached. People set up conditions for acceptance. We Christians say we love everyone but what is the application of this? It is not love if we only include the people who include us. That is co-dependency. Love is always giving without questioning. It is identifying ourselves with those who are hurting, because we hurt; and doing what we can to dress their wounds. When we know love –that is to know the one true God who is love- we know that our needs will be met by our God, and that we have no need to be in want for anything. When we realize this truth we are freed from our attachment to ourselves and can attend to the needs of others.
When we find ourselves in community with others who realize this truth our needs are also met through our relationships with other people. Here our motivation is not the expectancy for others to do the same for us, but expectation of God’s provision. We can give without expectation of return from other people and we can not be disappointed when people do not treat us the way Christ instructs us to treat them. Our security is in knowing that God supplies whatever we need, either thought other people or directly from his hand. The greatest way to live is like a bird eating out of the Creator’s hand.
If you have seen the movie “Saved” you might remember the scene where Mary is returning home from visiting Planned Parenthood. She stops in front of a church building with a cross on the side facing the street. With her hands open she looks to the cross and bears her heart to Jesus. “Shit…fuck….God damn.” She defiantly speaks. She feels like God has tricked her. She realizes her social status and image is ruined. She has no one and nothing to hide behind and she is exposed before God. I love this scene and how it plays out. In time she may realize that she misunderstood God’s message and in fact He had not forsaken her; but in the moment she felt betrayed. In the end of movie everything works out. Mary has her baby. Hillary Fay is reduced to tears and realizes how much pain she caused people. Maybe I like this scene so much because I have been there. I have been in that place where I felt like an ass for believing like I did; for thinking I could trust God. And like Mary I realized down the road that my slump was in fact due to my impatience and verdant relationship with my God; that God did in fact have plans for my life and that they we completely other and wholly more beautiful than I could have ever imagined them.
posted by Daniel D Starcher at 2:10 PM
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