Emptied & Humbled: Finding Nemo – Choice

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Lent is about choice. Peter Parker/Spider-man wanted to keep a job, get good grades in school, and to get the girl. Ralph wanted to be part of the community. The Guardians of the Galaxy each wanted something specific, but all related to their shared purpose. Anna simply wanted to play with her sister.

In Finding Nemo, Nemo and his dad, Marlin, want two very different things. Marlin wants to protect Nemo (his wife, Nemo’s mom, was attacked and killed) and Nemo wants to spread his fins and have an adventure.

Finding Nemo fits nicely with Jesus’ “Lost” parables in Luke 15. After all, the title is Finding Nemo.

As we’ve seen with the other movies – which all retell Philippians 2 – we all make choices all the time.

Marlin made a choice to protect his son, Nemo. When Nemo’s mom was attacked and killed, Marlin purposed to protect his son.

Nemo, however, didn’t like what he thought was “over-protecting” and chose to disobey his dad.

It is this disobedience that leads to Nemo getting lost.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

Nemo was quite literally entangled by his sin.

Nemo is captured by the diver because he broke his father’s rules.

Nemo went too far – crossed the line – and was captured.

While we all make choices, some of us (like Nemo) do not make good ones.

Let me ask you this as we near the end of Lent:

What choices are you making that you already know are bad choices?

How have you crossed the line?

What sins currently entangle you?

Did you know I wrote a whole devotional based on Finding Nemo? You can check out Sharing God’s Story with Finding Nemo over at Amazon.

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

Emptied & Humbled: Frozen – Glory

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Lent is about glory! The choices, the sacrifice, and the death all lead to the glory. That’s right, glory comes as the result of the choices, the sacrifice, and the death.

As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every nameso that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11, emphasis mine)

As a result of Jesus’ emptying and humbling, God the Father exalted him, all for the Father’s glory.

Suffering is first, glory is second. The glory is the result, the reward.

We see the same in Frozen with Anna’s resurrection, Arendelle’s restoration, and Anna’s and Elsa’s reunion.

Anna Lives!

We hear early in Frozen that only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart. First, we think that this true love is Hans, then Kristoff. But in the end, it is Anna who shows an act of true love. In the end, we see that “true love” is far more than just a romantic love. Instead, true love is a sacrificial love.

It is this act of true love – it is this sacrifice – that can thaw a frozen heart.

The last breath, because of her sacrifice, turns into the breath of life.

Just like with Jesus, death has been defeated! Anna lives!

Where, O death, is your victoryWhere, O death, is your sting? (I Corinthians 15:55)

Because Jesus lives, we can live also!

Arendelle Restored

Remember, the world of Arendelle was cursed with a never-ending Winter. Because of Elsa’s actions, the world was cursed.

But because of Anna’s sacrifice, the world was restored back to its original creation! The once frozen land is thawed and restored to its natural beauty.

For since death came through a manthe resurrection of the dead also came through a manFor just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (I Corinthians 15:21-22)

We look forward to the same.

Butaccording to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides. (2 Peter 3:13)

Someday God will fix this broken world. This world that is so wrong will be made right. We look forward to the new heaven and the new earth.

Do you want to build a snowman?

When they were little, all Anna wanted was to play with Elsa. Anna kept asking Elsa, who had locked herself away if she wanted to build a snowman. Anna gets her happy ending. Anna gets her glory.

After Arendelle is restored, Anna and Elsa are reunited. Anna gets her sister back.

While the resurrection of the dead and the restoration of the world are things we look forward to in the future, reconciled relationships are part of the glory we can experience today!

Just like Anna and Elsa were reconciled, you, too, can reconcile with others.

Is there someone in your life with whom you want – or need – to reconcile?

Remember, the glory – that reconciliation – comes at a cost. Maybe it’s just making the first move, making the first call. Maybe it is confessing sin and asking for forgiveness. Maybe its forgiving someone who has hurt you.

As Philippians 2 and Frozen show us, the glory (the reconciliation) comes as a result of the sacrifice.

Today I leave you with a charge instead of a question.

Move first.

Make the call.

Send the text.

Did you know I wrote a whole devotional based on Frozen? You can check out Sharing God’s Story with Disney’s Frozen over at Amazon. Also, here are two free downloads that help share God’s story with Frozen. The first one applies Frozen to the Wordless Book. The second illustrates the “Romans Road” using the storyline of Frozen. Just right-click, “save as” and enjoy!

SharingGodsStorywithFrozen SharingGodsStorywithDisneysFrozenandtheWordlessBook

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

Emptied & Humbled: Frozen – Identity

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Lent is about identity. Jesus’ death and resurrection show that he is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. In the same way, Anna’s death showed that she, and not Hans or Kristoff, was the real hero!

Frozen toys with us. First, it makes us think that Hans is Prince Charming, coming in and sweeping Anna off her feet. It even plays with the traditional Disney trope of love at first sight.

How many times did we hear someone say, “You can’t marry a man you just met.”

Frozen first makes us think that Hans, the good-looking smooth talker, is the love interest and then reluctant hero once Elsa runs away. Eventually, Hans is unmasked as the bad guy when he fails to deliver “true love’s kiss” to save Anna.

Frozen then makes us think that Kristoff is the real “true love.” (Did Disney just do a love triangle?) During the climatic ending, we see Kristoff racing back to the castle to declare his love for Anna and to save her with true love’s kiss.

But neither Hans nor Kristoff is the true hero. In an act of true love – sacrificial love – Anna intercedes to save Elsa. As Hans is about to kill with Elsa with a sword (man, I don’t remember Frozen being this dark…), Anna jumps between them to save her. Anna sacrifices herself to save Elsa.

Anna shows herself to be the real hero.

Sacrifice has a tendency to reveal who we really are. What we choose – and what we sacrifice – reveals what is important to us. This is true with money. This is true with time.

What do your choices say about you?

What does your spending say about you?

What does the way you spend your time say about you?

Who are you?

If you have trusted Jesus then part of that answer is:

I have been crucified with Christand it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the bodyI live because of the faithfulness of the Son of Godwho loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

If you are not, hit me up. I would love to introduce you to him.

Did you know I wrote a whole devotional based on Frozen? You can check out Sharing God’s Story with Disney’s Frozen over at Amazon. Also, here are two free downloads that help share God’s story with Frozen. The first one applies Frozen to the Wordless Book. The second illustrates the “Romans Road” using the storyline of Frozen. Just right-click, “save as” and enjoy!

SharingGodsStorywithFrozen SharingGodsStorywithDisneysFrozenandtheWordlessBook

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

Emptied & Humbled: Frozen – Death

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Lent is about death. Unlike Spider-man 2, Wreck-it-Ralph and (possibly) Guardians of the Galaxy, which hint at or imply a death, Frozen shows us that true sacrificial love often ends in death.

Of all the movies we’ve already looked at, Disney’s Frozen gives us the best Reel Parable of Philippians 2.

The whole world of Arendelle is under a curse because of the actions of one person, Elsa.

Queen Elsa, acting like the prodigal daughter, runs away from her kingdom and from her sister, Anna.

Anna, following in the footsteps of the woman who lost a coin and the shepherd who lost a sheep (the “Lost” parables), runs after her.

When Hans, the Devil-like character disguised as Prince Charming, is about to kill Elsa, Anna intercedes. In an act of true love, Anna empties herself of her own ambition and humbles herself to the point of death to save Elsa.

Frozen makes it very clear that unlike Spider-man and Ralph, Anna dies. They show her taking her last breath.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

Anna loved Elsa the way Christ loves us.

Elsa was helpless and “ungodly.” She is the one that caused the curse on Arendelle. She is the Queen that left her kingdom. She is the older sister who left her little sister, the only family she had left. She was, as Romans 5:8 says, a sinner.

Yet Anna died for her like Christ died for us. Why? Because Anna loved Elsa.

This Lent season, remember that Jesus loves you so much that he died for you.

Did you know I wrote a whole devotional based on Frozen? You can check out Sharing God’s Story with Disney’s Frozen over at Amazon. Also, here are two free downloads that help share God’s story with Frozen. The first one applies Frozen to the Wordless Book. The second illustrates the “Romans Road” using the storyline of Frozen. Just right-click, “save as” and enjoy!

SharingGodsStorywithFrozen SharingGodsStorywithDisneysFrozenandtheWordlessBook

 

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

Emptied & Humbled: Frozen – Sacrifice

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Lent is about sacrifice. Disney’s Frozen shows this very clearly: Anna, to save her big sister, Elsa, jumps between her and the bad guy’s sword.

This is a fantastic example of Christ’s sacrifice.

Else ignored Anna for years.

Elsa, not Anna, caused the curse on Arendelle. Anna didn’t do anything wrong,

Elsa is very much the “Prodigal Sister.” She is the one who ran away.

Anna is the one who emptied herself and humbled herself. With Elsa gone, Anna is now the Queen. But because Anna loved Elsa, she left her position to serve Elsa.

Anna did not pursue her own selfish ambition. Instead, she considered Elsa’s needs as more important than her own.

When Hans – the bad guy disguised as Prince Charming – is about to kill Elsa, it is Anna who intercedes. She literally sacrifices herself to save her sister.

After her death and resurrection/glory, Elsa asked Anna, “You sacrificed yourself for me?

Anna’s reply is God’s reply, “I love you.”

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. (John 3:14-16)

 

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Yes, Jesus loves you the way Anna loved Elsa. And Jesus sacrificed himself for you just like Anna sacrificed herself for Elsa.

The sacrifice of Lent shows us that God loves us.

So today I leave you with this reminder.

God loves you.

Did you know I wrote a whole devotional based on Frozen? You can check out Sharing God’s Story with Disney’s Frozen over at Amazon. Also, here are two free downloads that help share God’s story with Frozen. The first one applies Frozen to the Wordless Book. The second illustrates the “Romans Road” using the storyline of Frozen. Just right-click, “save as” and enjoy!

SharingGodsStorywithDisneysFrozenandtheWordlessBook

SharingGodsStorywithFrozen

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

Emptied & Humbled: Frozen – Choice

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

As we saw in Spider-man 2, Wreck-it Ralph, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Lent is about choice. Specifically, Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus chose to empty himself and to humble himself and that we are to do the same.

We all make choices every day. That is one reason Disney’s Frozen is so awesome.  Just about every single character must make a choice.

Elsa wants solitude so she does not hurt anyone and chooses to run away.

Anna, her little sister who wants her big sister’s company, chooses to run after her.

At first, Kristoff wants to work hard and keep his job. As the movie plays out, he wants Anna.

Hans, who says he loves and wants to marry Anna, really wants to kill her so he can become King!

And Olaf, sweet Olaf, wants the very thing that will hurt him, warm hugs.

Yes, everyone in Disney’s Frozen wants something. Some of these things are good, some of them are not. Regardless, each character makes a choice – based on their integrity or lack of it – to get what they want.

We’ve seen that we, too, must make choices because of our own wants, desires, and ambitions.

Philippians 2 tells us to treat others as more important than ourselves and to concern ourselves with the interests of others.

Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourselfEach of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. (Philippians 2:3-4)

We all want things. We all have desires. To empty and humble ourselves is to look at others’ wants and desires as more important than our own.

What about you? What do you want? What choice must you make to get it?

What has God been working on with you this Lent season?

What is God currently asking you to choose between?

Are you currently acting selfishly? Or are you acting humbly?

Or do you, like Olaf, want something that is actually bad for you?

Did you know I wrote a whole devotional based on Frozen? You can check out Sharing God’s Story with Disney’s Frozen over at Amazon. Also, here are two free downloads that help share God’s story with Frozen. The first one applies Frozen to the Wordless Book. The second illustrates the “Romans Road” using the storyline of Frozen. Just right-click, “save as” and enjoy!

SharingGodsStorywithFrozen

SharingGodsStorywithDisneysFrozenandtheWordlessBook

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

Emptied & Humbled: Guardians of the Galaxy – Glory

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Lent is about glory. Sure, part of Lent is about anticipating Jesus’ death on Good Friday. But the other part of Lent is celebrating Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. Jesus defeated death!

Death has been swallowed up in victory. “Where, O death, is your victoryWhere, O death, is your sting? (I Corinthians 15:54b-55)

I need Lent

As I stated earlier, Lent is a very emotional time for me because it marks the life of my middle child, my middle son, Jude.

Jude was born February 11, the week before Lent began and died, two years later, on April, 12, shortly before Easter. Because of this, Lent is a very emotional and meaningful time for our family.

First, I need to mourn the death of my son. I need to feel the sting of death.

But, I also need to celebrate his life and his eternity. I need a reminder that even though Death took my son, Jesus has already defeated Death!

As we kept saying at his memorial service and funeral service, “Because Jesus lives, Jude lives also.”

Groot and Lent

As we saw earlier, Groot sacrificed himself to save the other Guardians. Groot’s death saved the Guardian’s lives. If Groot did not choose to sacrifice himself to the point of death, then all the Guardians would have died. But Groot did not stay dead! Sound familiar?

Yea, I know it’s not the same as Jesus’ resurrection, but Guardians does show us that there is life after death! Not only do we see Groot die, but we see little Groot live!

When Rocket asks Groot why he was sacrificing himself, he responds, “We are Groot.” Up to this point, all he said was, “I am Groot.” This time it was about community, and that is part of the glory. Because of Groot’s sacrifice – as a result of his death – the other Guardians lived and found community.

Peter Quill – Star-Lord (who?) – is no longer a loner. Drax, who lost his family, is no longer alone. Rocket, who longed for acceptance, now has a family, a community.

Community is part of the glory.

But that is not all; don’t forget that Groot lives!

The life – the glory – is a result of the sacrifice.

As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every nameso that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Even with Jesus, the glory is a result of the sacrifice.

Want the glory? Great! Just understand that the glory comes as a result of the sacrifice. Jesus didn’t get the glory without the sacrifice and neither will you.

What are you missing out on because you don’t want to deal with the pain or the sacrifice?

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

 

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

Emptied & Humbled: Guardians of the Galaxy – Identity

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Lent is about identity. Jesus’ death and resurrection showed that he was both the Son of God and the Son of Man. Spider-man’s sacrifice revealed that his secret identity was Peter Parker. Ralph’s sacrifice showed that he was actually a good guy (even though he was his game’s bad buy). So who is the hero of Guardians of the Galaxy? I say Groot!

Guardians of the Galaxy plays like Star-Lord is the hero, and he does sometimes act heroically, but Groot is the real hero of Guardians!

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily foodand one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it? So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itselfBut someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my worksYou believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that – and tremble with fear. (James 2:14-19)

Faith without works is dead. Yea, that’s hard to swallow. And, honestly, I am not 100% sure of what it means. But I know this, James, the brother of Jesus, ties our actions to our faith. He even says faith without actions is dead. Wow.

While hard to understand, we see this in the movies we’ve talked about in Emptied and Humbled.

While Peter Parker struggled with his own wants and desires, we know he humbled himself to be the hero because he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. He was not defined by his lot in life (poor, girlfriend-less college student). Instead, he was defined by his actions.

Even though Ralph was the bad guy in Fix it Felix, Jr, we see by his sacrificial actions that he is really a good guy at heart. He was not defined by his position. Instead, he was defined by his actions.

And what of Vanellope, the messed up girl everyone thought was a mistake or a glitch? Because of Ralph’s sacrifice, we found out that she was really a princess, the daughter of the real king of Sugar Rush.

We see the same thing in Groot. The quiet and (mostly) gentle giant is not defined by his position. No, Groot is defined by his actions! Groot is the hero!

The same is true for Jesus, right?

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

God demonstrated his love. He didn’t just declare it, he demonstrated it, he showed it.

So, I leave you today with this question.

Who are you?

Behind the title, the position, or your lot in life, who are you?

(I trust that part of your answer is that you are a Christian, an adopted child of God, a prince or princess of the one true King, and a fellow heir of Jesus! If not, hit me up. I would love to introduce you to the one that loves you so much that he died for you. I would love to introduce you to Jesus.)

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

 

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

Emptied & Humbled: Guardians of the Galaxy – Death

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Lent is about death. Specifically, Lent is about Jesus’ sacrificial death. Yes, a huge part of Lent is preparing for Good Friday.

As we saw yesterday, Groot, like Jesus, chose to make the ultimate sacrifice for his friends, for his community.

While sacrifice does not often lead to physical death, it does usually lead to a death. When we choose one thing over another we must often let our pride, our will, or our own desire die.

Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, MyFather, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

Look, I don’t completely understand what this means. But there is some sense where Jesus, the Son of Man, pleaded with God the Father to let the cup, the crucifixion, pass from him. But in the same prayer Jesus, the Son of God, emptied himself of his own will and humbled himself to, submitted to, God the Father.

Today I leave you with one question; In what area of your life is God asking you to submit to him?

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

 

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith

Emptied & Humbled: Guardians of the Galaxy – Sacrifice

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Lent is about sacrifice. Specifically, Lent is about Jesus’ sacrifice. The thing is, Jesus’ sacrifice is a hard idea to grasp.

As we’ve seen in Philippians 2, Jesus emptied himself and humbled himself. Jesus chose us.

But (Jesus) emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himselfby becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:7-8)

God emptied himself. That is crazy to me. Of what did he empty himself? To be honest, I don’t know. I have some ideas. Some are probably right on. Some probably stray into heresy. But it doesn’t really matter. Jesus emptied himself to the point of sacrificial death.

In Guardians of the Galaxy, we see this in Groot. While everyone else in the movie was looking out for their own selfish ambition, Groot emptied and humbled himself to the point of death. Why? To save others. Groot saw the others as more important than himself. Groot chose their needs over his own.

When Rocket asks him why he did it, Groot, who has only said “I am Groot,” says “We are Groot.” Groot gets community.

We belong in a community! We are not made to go through life alone. God created us – and expects us – to be in community.

We see this in the world, right?

Most of us are born into families. Our families are typically part of an ethnic or religious community. We go to school and become part of another community – sports, band, art, geeks, nerds, punks, etc. In college some of us some join academic or social communities, sororities, or fraternities. Those of us that join the military are adopted into a “band of brothers” that often lasts a lifetime. As we grow and develop our own interests and hobbies, we join other communities of like-minded people. We bond instantly when we see someone in our favorite band’s t-shirt or see our Alma mater’s sticker on a car. Some of us are a part of a running club or a specific gym. Our options for a community are virtually endless. We even develop communities around movies. Don’t believe me? Go to a midnight showing of the upcoming Star Wars movie! You will see a whole community dedicated to all things Star Wars!

Chances are you are already part of a community. The question is, is your community good for you? Is your community looking out for you? Is your community helping you become the best “you” possible?

Listen, I don’t think you need to leave your communities (unless its illegal or immoral or something), but do not let your community replace your Church community.

And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

If you are a Christian, then you are a part of the Church and God expects for you to take part in a Church. He even calls us – the Church – the Bride of Christ! Jesus loves us like a husband loves his wife.

Look, I know that most of you probably have wonderfully warm and fuzzy feelings about the Church. I grew up in the Church. My grandfather was a pastor. Even when I hit those “awkward teen years” and felt alienated from the Church, I dug my pastor. He truly loved me unconditionally and was a wonderful face for Jesus’ bride.

But to some of you, the Bride of Christ is quite ugly. Some of you have been hurt – maybe even abused – by the someone in the Church. If this is you, please find a good Church. Don’t let one crappy experience stop you from being a part of God’s community.

When the Church lives like Jesus – and acts like Groot – it is the most amazing community you could ever hope to find.

No Church is perfect – since no Christian is perfect – but the Bride of Christ is a lovely thing when we empty ourselves and humble ourselves to serve others.

You need the Church and the Church needs you.

This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.

Get my free e-book, How to See God’s Story in Movies. This free download will help you share God’s story with your kids and students by showing you how to see God’s story in movies.

 

Not only will this guarantee that you get the latest Reel Parables posts, but you will also get my most popular downloads, including “How to Time Travel.”

And be sure to check out my About page for more info on what I do around here at Reel Parables.

Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith