Angie and I got a chance to get out and see a movie this past weekend.  And, as usual, the great movies, the great stories, and anything that is worth its weight in salt is embedded with the gospel.

As children usually do (in movies and in real life), the precious young girl in the movie offers an incredible nugget of wisdom to her wise caretaker.

“Sometimes to go forward … 

you have to go back.”

Amen.  Amen.  And Amen.

While both characters were living in an incredibly difficult life, one of them knew how to deal with it.  She faced it.

And sometimes this is the case with all of us.

As people, we are known to mask our pain.  We sometimes cover our scars with pills, or drinks, or food, or by simply walking through life trying to ignore our past.  We have become experts in “walking numb” through our lives.

But God offers us something better.

He offers us a chance to see life as what He gave it to us to be.

God gave us Free Will.  Freedom to choose.

And with that Freedom to Choose, we made a horrible decision.  We chose NOT HIM.  And when “we” (all mankind) chose NOT HIM, we got to experience what NOT HIM looks like.

I don’t know about you—-but I don’t like what NOT HIM looks like.

1 Peter 2 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.  

22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”  23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,”but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

And to seal the deal —- Jesus dealt with what NOT HIM looks like too.

He asked God “why have you forsaken me?”

He begged God to “take this cup”.

He endured all of the things that we might endure—and more.

And He did it so that we could go back and face our stuff — so that we could then move forward.

I do not want any more of NOT HIM.

Do not miss the opportunity to give the gospel to the one who is hurting—even if that someone is you.

They … we all … need it so badly.

It is our only hope.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J