Here is a synopsis for you. This High School nerd has a beautiful girl move in next door. He falls for her and then finds out that she had been a porn star. The industry tries to pull her back in, but he fights to keep her out. Funny things happen. Crazy things happen. Sad things happen.
This movie that will never show up on the shame shelf as Veggie Tales and Fireproof taught me something I had been struggling to understand. Many of the discussions I have been having lately have revolved around "discipleship' and all that the word means.
Here is a quote from the movie that I am going to adjust a little bit:
"Let's see here...um...can't speak a foreign language, so that's out. And uh, I certainly can't quote JFK now, can I Ryan? You know, it's funny--I have this whole speech prepared, and I've been practicing for weeks but you know what? I'm just gonna go with it. Discipleship...so, what is discipleship? I mean, it's funny, cause I used to think it was always telling the truth, doing good deeds...basically being a f'ing Boy Scout. But lately I've been seeing it differently. Now I think discipleship is about finding that one thing you really care about. That one special thing that means more to you than anything else in the world. And when you find it, you fight for it. You risk it all. You put it in front of everything--your future, your life, all of it. And maybe the stuff you do for it isn't so clean; you know what--it doesn't matter. Because in your heart, you know that the juice is worth the squeeze. That's what discipleship's all about."
I don't know how we got to the point where we believe making disciples means we watch the right movies, go to church every week, talk like a kindergarten teacher and buy pencils with "christian" sayings on them. Discipleship is a dual process. You, the disciple, is continually being refined while you, the maker of disciples, continually challenges, heals and encourages those around you. There is nothing safe about this process. If your "christianity" is getting in the way of making disciples you may want to take a trip down humble lane.
This morning I took a road trip to Humbleville myself. I took my wonderful wife out to IHOP for breakfast. We were seated in a booth next to another couple that seemed pretty unhappy. Within a couple minutes they were quietly yelling at each other. We really couldn't hear what was being said, but I could hear her calling him an a**hole multiple times. We giggled.
It seems that our contentment in being "better" than them made us smug. Their anger and pain was entertaining to us. Then I saw her punch him in the forehead from across the table. Not as funny. Then she kept berating him. I peaked over the booth and saw his eyes. They were looking somewhere far off and he was holding back tears.
This is when I realized that Jesus did not send us into the world to be smug pricks. He sent us into the world to make disciples. He armed us with grace. I immediately excused myself from the table and went up to the counter and gave them a gift card I had received for Christmas. I told them it was for the couple that was fighting. I told them not to say who gave it to them and just to let them know that sometimes people need free breakfasts on Monday. The waitstaff was blown away. They had overheard the couple and were avoiding them. Now, I did not get up and start preaching, but they did taste the grace that has been given to me. The waitstaff also got to see grace in action.
We will never know why we sat next to them. We will never see what happened when they realized their breakfast was paid for. We can only hope that Christ's kingdom found a crack in their hearts today and that it will lead to an insatiable light in their hearts.
This is not a story about what we did right. This goes back to the movie. She just wanted someone to see her as a beautiful, broken person. The movie, breakfast and discipleship are all about this. We are all porn stars that want to escape from our hurt, pain, choices and prisons. We are all on the same side. We all have the same loving Savior calling and beckoning us to His arms. Let's start acting like it without letting our smugness, judgementalness and "better than you" attitude from doing what needs to be done. Sometimes this means we have to get our hands dirty, we just need to realize that someone had to get their hands dirty for us.
Christ is using you and your wife Battle Ax!
ReplyDeleteThink, what if we all understood the simplicity and complexity of the love that you showed.
I have so often seen that in the traditions of Church we have to say the right words, use the "correct" water, and pray the right format. While I can see the value of these things I can also see the sludge that these things also become for effectiveness. More often than not the traditions of the Church fuel a laziness and a selfishness in us sinful beings. We have manipulated so many good things simply so that we may live comfortably in our box of 1 way windows.
I mean think about it, isn't that what we have done? We as Christians find a subtle difference and use it as a Catalyst for separation, and we keep doing this until we are all alone in our comfortable box, our box where we can see and judge others, but we wont let them see or judge us!
What do we accomplish with this outside of division and loneliness?
NO!! This is not how it should be! Every time we see differences we should capitalize on them. Use them as opportunities to Show the greatest love of all!
We think that separation, silence, and being judgmental is so much easier than showing love..... well The Holy Spirit and the BATTLE AX family have proven this wrong! All it took for them was a gift card and an explanation to impact a restaurant full of people probably for an entire day!
One act at this IHOP could very well have "TRULY CHANGED LIVES!" more than anything that we as a divided Church could do in the entire year, because it was outside of what is expected from the "MUNDAIN TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK"
I have taken note and intend to seek out opportunities similar to that of the Battle Ax to make Discipleship effective again rather than expected and selfish deeds.
Thank you and continue with the stories they are impacting my life and in turn the lives of the people around me.
-God IS LOVE!
It's always good to be reminded of how quickly our judgmental and smug nature can show through. The worst part is that we rarely know we're doing it until it's too late. I know that I am faced with numerous opportunities each day to reach out to others. My goal in this new year is to take advantage of those opportunities, no matter how big or small; no matter how crazy or scary. Thanks!
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