I read the above passage and others like it, (e.g. Ephesians 5:1) and I am convinced that the bible is telling us that we should endeavor to become as much like Jesus as we can.
Every day, in everything we do, we should attempt to be like Christ.
“Houston, we have a problem!”
You see, there are many times when I just don’t even want to consider what Jesus would do – and therefore what I should do to be more like him.
Take movies for example. Would the Prince of Peace, the God who is love, find some of the movies I watch entertaining? I mean, really? Seriously, would Jesus choose to go with me to watch a movie which is basically 120 minutes of people beating, bruising, breaking and killing each other? Or would he say something like:
…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. (Philippians 4:8)
or maybe:
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12: 30+31)
When I think of verses like these, how can I reconcile them to the movies I watch?
Sometimes I think Jesus would say to me, “You find THAT entertaining?’
Or what about those TV shows, you know, the ones that show and glamorise people living lifestyles that I do not believe are right?
Do I find shows about the love lives of people living deeply in sin to be entertaining?
I mean, really? Am I entertained by that? Why? If it was someone I knew and loved, I would be saddened and deep in prayer for them yet because it’s on TV, I just find it to be entertaining?
Oh, and don’t even get me started on horror movies. Glorifying evil? What’s that all about?
Maybe it’s just escapism. Maybe I just watch them for a few minutes of escape.
That begs the question though, why am I trying to ‘escape’ from a life where I’m striving to imitate the One who was good and holy?
If I watch this stuff for entertainment then why am i entertained by it? If I watch it for escapism then what am I trying to escape from and why?
Is violence and death and evil and sin somehow better, more entertaining, more desirable than being pure and holy?
Am I just playing at becoming more like Christ when I really want to be just like the world?
I wonder sometimes….
Am I trying to imitate Christ or am I trying to imitate the world and then put on a mask to try to make it look like I’m imitating Christ?
There are areas in my life where I definitely try to imitate Christ and areas where I definitely don’t. How about you? Do you have areas in your life in which you just refuse to imitate Christ?
What can we do to let go of these things and become a little more like our great example, Jesus Christ?
You hit the nail on the head Peter. I just wrote about this too We as Christias have let life pull us away from our first love, Jesus! That is a big, rooted problem that needs to get fixed ASAP!!!! All this lukewarm Christianity has to go! You know the saying, you are what you eat; and that goes for every area of our lifes, especially Spiritually! The Body will never function the way it needs to untill we get back to basics of falling in love with our first love and live surrendered to His will in Every Area of our Lives. Amen JESUS!!!!!!!
Thanks Robin… I’ll stop by your site later and read what you wrote.
Great comment.
Amen Peter, despite the fact that I indulge in my fair share of escapism. Thanks for stepping on my toes. I needed it.
You’re welcome Billy, any time
I think it’s a slippery slope to qualify what Jesus would or would not approve of as art or entertainment. In biblical times there were obviously no movies available, so we can’t know for sure. But I am pretty sure they would have told stories as their form of entertainment. And the stories they told probably involved murder, intrigue, violence, betrayal, and maybe even a spaceship. I would be careful to make such sweeping statements about our culture’s art, and what is “acceptable” for Christians and what is not. Just a thought.
That is a good counterpoint argument, Bradley.
Of course we can’t know for sure what Jesus would or would not find entertaining. I guess I can only say that, for me I am finding it increasingly difficult reconciling trying to live out (and teach) Jesus’ teachings on love, peace and forgiveness and verses like ‘vengeance is mine, says the Lord’ with me finding graphic images of revenge, bloodshed, pain and fear to be entertaining.
If the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control – and if I’m allowing that fruit to grow in me, then why would I enjoy watching the opposite?
I fall short – but I press onward to upward calling in Jesus Christ. As I seek to honor Him, He brings areas in my life that need to be reviewed. One day I will be sin-free until then I keep looking upward.
Thanks Peter for reminding me to weigh the things of this world that I engage in against the Word of God. Perhaps it isn’t always that the activities are so bad, but they can be a terrible waste of valuable time.
Have a great day.
Deb
I understand where you’re coming from and God has been leading me away from the TV, but this doesn’t deny the fact that God has profoundly spoken to me through movies & TV or illustrated a biblical truth so vividly through this. I’m not even close to pretending that everything I watch has that effect, but I have been very grateful and changed when it has.
Jesus told a parable about vineyard workers beating servants and killing the heir. Maybe it wasn’t graphically portrayed in front of their eyes but it was used to make a broader point. How would the Passion of the Christ fall into all this?
I definitely think we need to weigh what we’re doing and allow God to transform us- even our tastes, desires, and motivations. I just don’t know that a blanket statement really does that because change comes from the inside out.
This is not contradicting you because I feel you make some very valid points, but there may be more to consider… Thanks for making me think. 🙂
Jason,
I agree with you, God speaks to me through TV and movies… he’s not limited to when and how he speaks 🙂
I think there is a big difference between a graphic story which is necessary to put across a certain idea or teach a necessary lesson and the depiction of gratuitous violence or sin, often with no morals, simply to ‘entertain’.
I wasn’t trying to suggest that I or we should reject all forms of cinematic entertainment, I just think that I (and probably we) need to be a little more discerning about exactly what we re entertained by.
Interesting that a couple of the responses here have alluded to a ‘sweeping’ or ‘blanket’ statement that I made in this post.
I have read it and re-read it and I don’t see that that’s what I did.
It’s fascinating how different people interpret the same text.
Great post and I fall into the same traps. You might find the book ‘Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up’ because the author spends a lot of time on this subject. On the flipside, one of my favorite books is Wild at Heart and that employs a lot of imagery and lessons from movies. I was on a flight once and I saw someone reading it and I asked him what he thought. He replied he liked the message but didn’t like that the author used “so many references to movies from Godless Hollywood”. The trick I believe is in Paul’s teaching in Romans 14 that concludes, “everything that does not come from faith is sin.” The point being we need to follow and hold to our convictions without judging others for theirs. We sin when we begin to compromise for ‘relatability’.
Ya know, I was just talking to my husband about a similar thing yesterday. Doing this in my own life isn’t as huge of a problem as it is to tell my friends that the things they are doing may not be healthy. The scary thing is that SOOO many Christians are so deceived about the grace of God, and the fact that he’s our friend, that they do things with that pretense. Those two thoughts justify this kind of wrong doing. When I say something, they just smile and giggle “ohh you’re so cute and sweet.” That’s frustrating to me. But at least I’m not getting stoned or my head chopped off. 🙂 Right? The issue is that we have to, as individuals, have a love for God that supercedes our desire to watch that junk. Love is the ultimate motivator.
You’re awesome Brooke.
Thanks for dropping by and for your great comment!
Thank you all for your inspiring comments. I believe there’s a need to be very careful, i mean be discerning to whatever words we hear because “words” is a spirit, it will either brings life or brings death. So we need to sort out what comes to our head. We are not just imitating Christ because Jesus Christ is not our hobby, He is our life. What the Lord Jesus wants to see is His life manifesting in our lives, that’s why He form us, shape us, mold us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is building the character, the life of Jesus in us. That’s why there’s the “fruit” of the Spirit, not fruits. The fruit is only one, because the frui to of the Spirit is Life(the life of Jesus Christ – as Risen King, not the life that He was on earth but that life that is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords). This is the life(Spirit) that He gave us.And we are representing Him because Jesus is no longer on earth and how can other people/non-believers know Him, that He existed? – We manifest Him/ we show Him through the life He is giving us so that they will know that He is really what people need in this life. That apart from Him is death, or the moment you separate yourself from Him and go solo then death will come.