We saw Lion King in 3D today with Kylie and Alex. It is strange how things hit you differently when you're an adult then when you're a kid. I used to love that movie and dance and sing to "I just can't wait to be king", but today I felt a tug at my heart. Of course the death scene of Mufasa was very hard for me given the recent loss of my mom, but there was something else there that really got to me.
Those who read my previous blog from this morning would remember me talking about redemption. Well, the entire theme about lion king is beyond the circle of life, beyond hyenas, beyond singing giraffes; it had a deep, realistic theme of redemption.
First, there is an enemy (Scar) who separates a young cub from his father thorough death. Then, Scar lies to the boy accusing him of killing his father and makes him feel shamed enough to run away. How often are we shamed by our sins enough to hide? Adam and Eve hid from God and we tend do do the same. The kicker here is that he was LIED to. It was the ENEMY who made him feel this way, it wasn't truth. Poor little Simba had not killed his father, he had not done anything wrong. How often does OUR enemy lie to us to shame us and separate us from our Lord?
Then Simba meets a wise warthog who encourages him to "put his behind in the past". As Timon corrects him, you have to put your past behind you. Hakuna matata means no worries. In the context it is about forgetting the past and not worrying about it. Without God, forgetting our past and not dealing with it brings the past back to get us, as it did when Nala ran into Simba. Instead of running in shame, lets learn from our mistakes, lets face "Scar" right on.
The beautiful thing is that because of Christ Jesus dying on the cross for us, we have the beautiful gift of redemption. We are able to be saved through grace and are at liberty to put the past behind us. God forgives and forgets, giving us the ultimate redemption, as we sin daily. Sometimes it takes a huge, difficult life circumstance for us to understand true grace and true redemption, just as it did Simba, and also me. It took me getting pregnant out of wedlock to understand God's grace. It also took working past a ton of lies that Scar has fed me for my entire life, for me to be made whole through Jesus.
Don't let Scar hold you back. Don't make Rafikki have to travel a far distance to knock some sense into you. As Simba said to Nala when she asked what changed his mind, "I finally got the sense knocked into me, and I've got the bump to prove it." We all have bumps that God has used to teach us to come to Him, to surrender to Him. Don't forget the bumps, the lessons, don't let the lies hinder your light nor your relationship with Christ.
Because of Christ Jesus we can truly say "hakuna matata". We truly have no worries about our past. Be free from your shame, don't let the lies come back to you. During all of this he learned that Mufasa lives in him, just as Jesus lives in us through the Holy Spirit. Take comfort in the fact that you're never alone and remember the promises of who you are as a new creation in Christ. We are, like Simba, sons and daughters of the king.
With this I close.
Hakuna matata, friends. God be with you.
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