God is with us – always. Whether we feel Him or not, He is always there. As a friend of mine in Israel said recently, “God is always speaking. The question is: Are we always listening?” As Christ-followers, we must learn to listen and “see” God in the midst of all the situations in our lives. Our God is omnipresent. He is always with us – speaking, loving and drawing us to Himself. He is always God speaking to us today, and we must learn to see and hear from Him.
Currently, we are in a movie series on Sunday mornings at church. As a part of our 20th Anniversary Celebration, we are returning to our roots. For five years, in the early days of Rolling Hills, we met in a movie theater. At the AMC movie theater in Cool Springs, we would set up and tear down ten different movie theaters for adults, babies, preschool, children and students every Sunday. It was a fun and exciting time, and it took everyone to make it happen.
If you really study how Jesus taught, Jesus constantly used His surroundings to highlight spiritual truths. For example, Jesus would tell stories, such as a “farmer went out to sow his field and some seed fell on the fell on…” Jesus used this illustration about farming and seeds to God’s Word falling on the soil of human hearts. Jesus used an illustration that everyone could “see.” They could look over and see the farmer sowing his seed. Or, Jesus would point out a “fig tree” that had withered because it did bear any fruit, or He would point to a mountain and call people to “see” what could be moved if they just had faith. This is how Jesus taught.
Now, for us as His disciples today we live in a digital age. Our cultural context is not agriculture as much as it is movies, internet and tv. It is easy for us to “see” how Jesus can use this backdrop to teach us spiritual truths. When you think about it – truth is truth. There is a thin veil that separates the secular from the sacred. It is essentially how you use the words and the message. God created all truth, so we can definitely find truth in our cultural context and learn more about who He is and His desire for us.
In this series, we are looking at a different movie each week and “seeing” what God has to teach us spiritually through it. Every movie has some piece of God’s story in it because God is the One true Author of it all. We see this in the epic battle of Good vs. Evil – how God is truly God and triumphs in the End, or the Love Story – how God is love and His ultimate love for us, or in the Action and Adventure – how God invites us on an incredible joy of knowing and growing in Him. For us, we must learn to “see” God’s story in movies, life and the everyday.
Jesus taught in stories (parables), and we love stories. We all love movies. Maybe you can think of your favorite movie – something that when it comes on, you stop and watch; or, you can quote every line. Every story ultimately borrows from God’s greater Story. God’s Story is truly one of grace and redemption. This is why we are moved so much when we watch great movies or see amazing love stories. God is ultimately the Author behind it all.
Today, we must be wise and spiritually discerning. There are some bad movies out there. There is some junk that we don’t need to put in our minds. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” There are some things that we do not need to watch. There are some things that we do not need to put in our minds or hearts. Garbage in means garbage out. If we put junk in our mind, then it will come out in our lives. There are some movies we should not watch. This is where the power of the Holy Spirit comes in to give us that nudge not to watch. We are inundated by the world. We must be wise about what we watch and what we allow our kids to watch.
However, as Christ-followers we are “in the world, but we are not of the world,” John 17. In this culture, we must learn to look and listen to God. God is here with us. Through the joys and the struggles, He can and will speak to us through His Word, other Christ-followers and our surroundings. God can speak through a song, a movie or a sign. We must learn to be watching and discerning. Even with our kids, friends and others, we have an incredible opportunity to “see” God in every situation and learn deeper spiritual truths in the process. Then we can learn ourselves as well as point others to God’s greater Story in the midst of it all.
So, what are you watching? What movie, Netflix series or tv show? Whatever it is, learn to “see” God and His greater Story for you. Have a family “movie night,” and talk about how you see God’s Story in the movie. Maybe watch Narnia, the Chosen or a classic movie that you want to think of spiritual truth when you see it. Have fun and be inspired. Learn to grow deeper in Him, so you can “see” God in your surroundings and point HIm out to others in your everyday life.
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