Have you ever seen Sleeping Beauty? It's a classic. When you watch it, your heart goes out to the poor king and queen- victims of a terrible curse. And Maleficent... she's pure evil!
For Christmas Lucy got the Maleficent movie and it put a whole new perspective on the story. Poor Maleficent! She wasn't evil. She was broken and desperate for revenge.
I was surprised to find myself rooting for her since I've always considered her the bad guy.
At the risk of doing something my brother hates and only talking about things on screen instead of real life I'd like to give another example.
Have you seen the movie Life is Beautiful? It is one of my all time favorite movies. It is an amazing story of a Jewish man who gets hauled off to a concentration camp. In the confusion, his son is taken, too. In order to protect his son, the father makes the entire concentration camp experience a game. Sometimes its Hide and Seek. Sometimes its Cops and Robbers. Throughout the movie the father is in a desperate situation yet the son is having a blast.
It's an amazing story of how perspective really can alter reality.
So what does regurgitating movies have to do with my point?
The world is really bad but God is really good.
I've come to the conclusion that this is true, but there is a third element to the reality. It's me. How do I choose to interact with the fallen world and the Holy God? The two are in such juxtaposition that it's often difficult to believe that God is still good.
More often than not, it doesn't feel like God is good. Life feels difficult and sometimes I am convinced that God has forgotten me.
This is where faith comes into the picture. Regardless of how I feel, regardless of what my perspective is telling me, I choose to believe that God is good. It may not feel like it. All the evidence in my limited perspective may point to the opposite. However, I know, that I know, that I know GOD IS GOOD.
He is on my side.
He is trustworthy.
He will provide.
He will not scoop my up out of hardship. Instead He will lovingly walk through difficult times with me. He will grow me and guide me and teach me.
The Lord's perspective is large and long. It spans time, space, and even emotion. He is good and just. Moreso, He is holy.
So, when everything in me is downcast. When my heart wants to hide from the Lord. When He feels so far away. When I am broken. When the task at hand feels impossible... I beg Him for His perspective and I choose to believe that He is good.
Just like in the movies, the more I tell myself, the more I read His word, the more I go to Him in prayer, the more I open myself up to him regardless of how I feel or what seems real He is faithful to remind me that His perspective is broad.
Every story has at least two sides.
Instead of getting frustrated at people He can show me why they are they way they are. We are all broken and the result of that brokenness can look very different from person to person. He can put laughter on my lips when there's suffering and evil all around me.
I choose to believe. All my eggs are in the Jesus basket. It's a perpetual choice. It is not based on my circumstances or how I feel. It's based on who He is.
"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen."
Hebrews 11: 1-3
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