Sin: The Movie

“For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:23

Today I am filled with imagery, with imagination. I am remembering themes and ideas presented in movies I’ve watched over the years.

Trigger warning: This is an intense scene with children and families in danger. Do not watch if it will negatively affect you.

 

  Don’t ask me why because I usually avoid films where children are in danger, but a few years ago I felt drawn to watch the movie, The Impossible. It chronicles the experience of a family that takes a Christmas holiday in Thailand just as it is hit by a tsunami. It comes to mind today as I read these verses about sin. When the tsunami hits, it is like sin in our life before Christ. No one has any power or control to save themselves, everyone regardless of race, age, class, religion, nationality, everyone is overtaken by the wave. And then, as the wave is receding, they are all equally pulled towards the ocean, and certain death. Sin is like this as well. We are all equally susceptible to it, no one can avoid having it affect their life. And once it does, its course is certain and insistent. It pulls us toward death, separation from God for eternity. There is nothing worse. But just as the family in the movie experiences, there are challenges and mercies along the way. There’s a tree or building to cling to, to escape the pulling of the current. Then there are large things floating in the water that knock them loose from their hold. All of this imagery just speaks to me of the pull that sin has on our life apart from Jesus. But when we give our lives to Him, it’s like being rescued from the current by someone in a boat that can take you to safety. You have the choice to get into the boat. You have the choice to stay in the boat. Something in the distance may tempt you to jump out and be pulled once more into the current of sin’s entanglement. I’m not saying you can lose your salvation, merely that you can be pulled into temptation and lose sight of your status with Christ. If we were to follow this analogy of the tsunami, you might see a friend in the distance. The boat is full but the captain insists he will come back for your friend once he gets you to safety. Rather than trusting the captain, you think it is necessary for you to save them, who knows what could happen to them before the captain gets back? So you jump into the water, intent on saving your friend, but instead find yourself pulled further and further away from them, trapped once more in the rushing waters. If this were an example in life, it could be that you were rescued from alcoholism and you are working through a program to help you get your life back. You encounter an old friend at a store and as you get to talking, you ache for them to be rescued as well. They offer to meet you at your old hangout and you think, “It’ll be fine. I won’t drink anything, I’m just going to share with them.” But you’re not ready for that yet. In session that afternoon, your mentor encourages you to stay away from old haunts as the allure and temptation can be overwhelming. But you care about your friend and you’re just sure that if you shared with them about God, they would get it! Unfortunately, your mentor knew what he was talking about and when your friend encourages you that just one beer isn’t going to hurt you, you find yourself nodding along, wanting to fit in. The next thing you know, you’ve left the program entirely.

  Another story that came to mind is The Matrix, a 1999 film with Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. The main character in the movie, Neo, is presented with the truth that he has been living in a simulation and in reality his body has been stored in a pod and used to generate energy for his captors. He receives a choice, he can take a red pill and his mind will be fully opened to the truth, or a blue pill and forget, going back to his old life. This draws a direct parallel in my mind to the choice we are given. Once we see the truth that Jesus is the Christ and He has died on our behalf and rose again in power so that we might be with Him in paradise forever, we can choose to believe and follow Him, or we can turn away and go back to where we were before. Sin is deceptive. In Hebrews 3:13 we read, "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." As long as we are living in sin's lie, we can't see it. But when our eyes are opened to the sin in our life, to God's righteousness and Holiness and His provision for us to turn away from our sins and follow Him instead we are given a choice. Will we choose our sin and get back into the pod on its way to hell or choose the new life that God has planned for us in Christ?

 Like this movie, making the choice to know, to follow, to believe, doesn’t provide for a life of prosperity and ease. On the contrary, it’s often times much more difficult, but always worth it. So how do you share with those living in prosperity and ease? How would they be enticed to join us outside the Matrix when it is so much more difficult?

 In the Pixar movie, Wall*E, humans have abandoned earth to the cleanup efforts of robots, almost all of which have broken down by the beginning of the film. The humans are on a space ship where all of their needs and desires are instantly met and they never have to work for anything. They’ve declined into a state of dependency on their robot caretakers, being neither physically capable nor motivated to do anything for themselves. They are complacent, not necessarily happy, but entertained. It’s this place of comfort that can be a more devastating trap for people than the downward spiral of addiction. The original intention of the ship in Wall*E was to return to earth after a bit and repopulate it, but the computer on the ship thinks it knows better and has kept them in space for generations. The captain of the ship, like his fellow passengers, has also fallen into the trap of trusting the computer to do his job for him, but he is astonished when he begins to learn the truth about earth and their mission in space. He is moved to action. For those of us trapped in complacency, what will motivate us to choose truth? How can we move away from comfort and ease and choose a life that is real, and worthwhile?

Here’s the Thing: Sin takes a lot of different shapes. It wears masks and entices with whatever will appeal to each person. But in the end, it’s all the same. It was said the best way I’ve heard in today’s devotional, “Sin is more than just a list of wrongdoings. It is anything we think, say, or do that is in rebellion to God’s holy law.” We like to compare ourselves to others saying, "I'm not as bad as them." The problem with this is the true comparison is between us and God's perfect righteousness and holiness.  In that, we fall woefully short, all of us do.  Even the best of us.

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.  Isaiah 64:6