This week I had the great pleasure of helping out a team of high school short-termers from the state of Iowa. I'll admit that before they arrived I was not the biggest fan of setting aside my schedule and life here in Ukraine for a whole week. But I was so wrong. I really enjoyed every minute of ministry and serving with this team. I loved getting to know them better and seeing their hearts for the Lord, and then at the end of the week, seeing how much the Lord had done in them, growing them more into the people He wants them to be. I guess some of my Young Life blood is still in me- there's just something amazing about seeing high school students following hard after the Lord and desiring His will above their own.
I was so blessed by this week.
But on Saturday we had a movie night at church. I had no clue about the kind of movie we'd be watching, but I figured that it would be a Christian one. I just want to preface this by saying that I love the Gospel. I love how God sent His son to die for us when we were still enemies of God, all so that we could live forever with Him, and I love telling people about it. I really really do. However, I have a cynical streak at times and I do not particularly love the stereotypical Christian movie. Christian movies are normally shot on a lower budget, so the acting generally isn't good, and often the scripts are just a copy+paste of Christian slang and church buzzwords. In the end, the businessman who trusts Christ with his life ends up with a booming, successful business, and the small-town football team led by a newly-Christian coach always wins the state championships. Lesson of the film: If you're on Team Jesus, your team will always win. Prosperity Gospel much??
So on Saturday when we were getting ready to watch "The Climb", not only was the Miley Cyrus song running through my head, but I was also a little skeptical.
As it turned out, some of my stereotypes were correct. The film was shot on a lower budget, and in some moments the acting was less than stellar. But as Christian movies go, it was a pretty great one. (Spoiler alert!) The main character sacrifices his life for a guy that doesn't deserve it, which was really a powerful image. However, when the moment of the straight-up preaching somewhat awkwardly happened in the film, I caught myself thinking "This is really lame". But a second later, the Lord answered back, saying "Maybe if you lived your life in such a way that the Gospel was clear and evident to everyone, and if you made a habit of sharing the Gospel with people I've put in your life, then just maybe these films wouldn't be necessary."
Conviction.
Regardless of your feelings on the topic of Christian films, it's pretty convicting to think that if we were doing our jobs as believers, ambassadors of Christ, we might not even need them. In fact, if we were doing our jobs, a lot of other things wouldn't be necessary- government healthcare and welfare programs, special interest groups, environmental projects, and the like. If we were doing our jobs to share the Gospel, think of the difference it would make. If we were doing our jobs to care for the widows and orphans of this world, think of what our government would look like. What would presidential debates be about? I don't know, but if we were doing our jobs, I feel like they'd be a heck of a lot shorter.
Instead of complaining about the broken (or in my case, rather lame and cliche) methods of proclaiming the Gospel or caring for others that we have today, maybe we should be more diligent about doing our jobs (i.e. sharing the Gospel with those around us, giving of our time, energy, and resources to care for those who need help, etc.) and encourage those around us to do the same.
For one who really dislikes the stereotypical Christian movie, I sure did get a lot out of it...
I was so blessed by this week.
But on Saturday we had a movie night at church. I had no clue about the kind of movie we'd be watching, but I figured that it would be a Christian one. I just want to preface this by saying that I love the Gospel. I love how God sent His son to die for us when we were still enemies of God, all so that we could live forever with Him, and I love telling people about it. I really really do. However, I have a cynical streak at times and I do not particularly love the stereotypical Christian movie. Christian movies are normally shot on a lower budget, so the acting generally isn't good, and often the scripts are just a copy+paste of Christian slang and church buzzwords. In the end, the businessman who trusts Christ with his life ends up with a booming, successful business, and the small-town football team led by a newly-Christian coach always wins the state championships. Lesson of the film: If you're on Team Jesus, your team will always win. Prosperity Gospel much??
So on Saturday when we were getting ready to watch "The Climb", not only was the Miley Cyrus song running through my head, but I was also a little skeptical.
As it turned out, some of my stereotypes were correct. The film was shot on a lower budget, and in some moments the acting was less than stellar. But as Christian movies go, it was a pretty great one. (Spoiler alert!) The main character sacrifices his life for a guy that doesn't deserve it, which was really a powerful image. However, when the moment of the straight-up preaching somewhat awkwardly happened in the film, I caught myself thinking "This is really lame". But a second later, the Lord answered back, saying "Maybe if you lived your life in such a way that the Gospel was clear and evident to everyone, and if you made a habit of sharing the Gospel with people I've put in your life, then just maybe these films wouldn't be necessary."
Conviction.
Regardless of your feelings on the topic of Christian films, it's pretty convicting to think that if we were doing our jobs as believers, ambassadors of Christ, we might not even need them. In fact, if we were doing our jobs, a lot of other things wouldn't be necessary- government healthcare and welfare programs, special interest groups, environmental projects, and the like. If we were doing our jobs to share the Gospel, think of the difference it would make. If we were doing our jobs to care for the widows and orphans of this world, think of what our government would look like. What would presidential debates be about? I don't know, but if we were doing our jobs, I feel like they'd be a heck of a lot shorter.
Instead of complaining about the broken (or in my case, rather lame and cliche) methods of proclaiming the Gospel or caring for others that we have today, maybe we should be more diligent about doing our jobs (i.e. sharing the Gospel with those around us, giving of our time, energy, and resources to care for those who need help, etc.) and encourage those around us to do the same.
For one who really dislikes the stereotypical Christian movie, I sure did get a lot out of it...