During a conversation
with friends the other night, the topic of movies came up and, of course we
talked about our favorites. I recalled this conversation as I began
thinking about what to present for our editorial lesson today and here’s what
won the subject battle in my mind. I’m going to attempt to connect some
statements from a few movies with some corresponding scriptural thoughts.
First, as sort of a
warm-up to our lesson, I’ll begin with the movie “The Bucket List” and sort of
let it set the tone for us. The two elderly characters in the movie are
talking about the things of life and one of them happened to mention his “faith” whereby the other
one, an agnostic, said, it “I
can’t get my head around it (faith).” The first man
then said what I consider to be a great reply. He said, “Maybe your head’s in the way.”
Paul addressed this very
thought in his letter to the Corinthians. In speaking about “faith” he said that the
Jews had to have a “sign”
(actually see it) thus it wouldn’t be “faith,”
would it? And the Greeks looked for “wisdom”
(as in the wisdom of the world). (1Cor. 1:22) Then he makes a great
statement regarding “faith”
versus man’s “wisdom”
when he tells them: “That your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
(1Cor. 2:5)
The word “stand,” seen in that last
verse, leads me into my next movie, a western entitled “Ride The High
Country.” It’s about a couple of old cowboy lawmen, one of which has
slipped over into violating the law and the other is still, as the old cowboy
saying goes, “standing tall.”
He still has a “code of honor,”
so to speak.
You know, “standing tall” has nothing
to do with physical stature. It has everything to do with being
honorable. Being “faithful”
in times when maybe it’s not the popular or expedient thing to do in regards to
the times of men. But, it’s always expedient in regards to God.
In the movie, the
“slipped” cowboy asked the “honorable” one what he wanted in life. He
answered that question by saying, “To
enter my house justified.” In 1Cor. 16:13 Paul tells us how
we are to “stand tall.”
He says: “Watch ye, stand fast
in the faith, quit (act) like men, be strong.” That, in
essence, will allow us to enter our heavenly house “justified.” (Rom. 5:1)
I’ve noted a TV ad
lately (unknown which product) where a man says, “Since time is infinite...” and then goes on to
pitch their product. Well, I’ve got news for them. Time is not “infinite.” The
definition of “infinite”
is something “unbounded”
or “unlimited.”
Time is “finite”
because it had a beginning and will have an end. What is “infinite” is
God, who set the bounds of man’s time.
The movie application to
this thought is another western called “Broken Trail.” The cowboy star
makes the comment “We travel
between the eternities.” IE: we live in the “finite.” We have a
beginning and an end. Following that “end”
we’ll return to “infinity.”
The question is: Where do you want to spend it?
My final thought today
comes from one of my all-time favorite movies - “Cool Runnings.” It’s the
story of the Jamaican bobsled team in the Canadian Olympic Games. In his
response to a question, the coach of the team is trying to explain to one of
the members about his having been caught cheating before and why he had done so
since he had already won a gold medal.
He explained that he had
spent his life in pursuit of winning “finite”
awards and medals. Basically, he’s telling this member about the futility
of having this goal, this objective of being successful at all costs for man’s
recognition. He told him that one gold medal isn’t enough. You can
never win enough. You have to have more. Regarding the gold medal,
he tells him that “if your not
enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.”
Whereupon the member
asks the coach a most profound and incisive question. He asks, “When will I know if I’m enough?”
The coach answered him by saying, “When
you cross the finish line you’ll know.”
Have we spent our “finite” time on the pursuit
of earthly rewards? Or, have we striven for heavenly rewards?” Have
we “stood fast” in
the “faith?”
Or, like the old cowboy, have we “slipped.” Have we allowed worldly
“wisdom” to get in
the way of our “faith?”
Or, have we kept our spiritual “code
of honor” and “stood
tall?”
We’ll know the answer
when we “cross the finish
line.”
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
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