I’m not a movie character
Have you noticed how the lives of movie characters is like?
- They have great hair: it is not messed even after sleeping, running, fighting, etc…
- They rarely need to go to the bathroom or brush their teeth.
- They have the ability to jump from airplanes, buildings, and moving cars or trains without injury.
- They can escape from explosions unharmed.
- They can withstand a beating without dying.
- They always win a competition at the last moment.
- They get their perfect match in the last minute.
- …and many other things
How perfect are their lives! There is only one problem: these people are fictional characters. Trying to imitate their lives is living a fantasy. Yet many people want to live their lives having these characters as role models.
Our lives hardly resemble those of the movie characters, but they have great resemblance to the lives of biblical characters. God intended the history of these people to be in His word to serve as an example for us. These stories do not hide the flaws of their characters, so we can understand that like us they were not perfect.
Take the case of Jonah, who refused to deliver a message from God because the recipients were extremely evil. Sometimes our sense of justice blinds our sense of mercy preventing us from doing the will of God.
We can also compare our lives with that of Peter, who was quick to speak and act, and as a result prone to mistakes. But Jesus was able to see in him the qualities of a bold leader who would be a great blessing to the church.
Another example is that of Judas Iscariot, who despite having been with Jesus for a long time, didn’t apply what he learned to his life.
We can also learn from the apostle Paul, who in his early years persecuted Christians thinking that he was serving God. But God in His mercy decided to reveal Himself to Paul, and used the zeal and energy that characterized Paul to take the gospel throughout the known world, and leave a written revelation for the rest of humanity through his epistles.
We can also talk about people like Abraham, Jacob, Moses and David, whom while not perfect, made great wonders while following God’s direction. If we were to list the defects or weaknesses of these and other bible characters we might be able to see that their lives were not different from ours. They made mistakes as we do. In the same way if we propose ourselves to follow God’s guidance we will see that God can do great things in our lives as He did in their lives.
Why living the fantasy of imitating movie characters? Certainly, not all stories of the characters in the Bible are worthy of imitation, but we can profit from their experiences by applying the lessons learned to our lives.
We cannot be like the movies characters, but we can become children of God.
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