I was watching a new show recently and as I watched it, I grew more disturbed. Without going into too much detail, the show was yet another villain origin story and revenge plot. To be honest, I hate shows like these, which is all that seems to be on television these days. By this, I mean shows that give any and everyone license to exact revenge however they seek to. At the heart of the show is a girl from the present whose mother was the ringleader of the bullies in high school and upon learning this, she is in disbelief. Not only because her mother dies before she can get answers, but because she cannot reconcile who her mother was as a teenager with the woman that raised her. In brief, her mother changed, as some people do. Most of us, hopefully, were different people as teenagers than we are now, as adults. I know I am. As a teenager, I hated myself and was not nearly as mature in my faith as I am today. But I’ve grown since then.
Granted, I wasn’t a bully, but the capacity to change and to truly be transformed lies within us all by God’s Grace.
I raise the issue with this show and shows like it because that is what is portrayed on television today – origin stories of evil, revenge plots, and overall, worlds that lack light – worlds that are diametrically opposed to the world I live in. I don’t live in a world without God. I don’t live in a world where love does not abide. I don’t live in a world where there is no opportunity for forgiveness or redemption. But that is what the world would have us believe. I know better than to be resigned to any environment – real or imagined where there is no hope or capacity for redemption because I just don’t see it on the television anymore.
These shows nowadays are not only completely devoid of any sort of God, grace, or mercy and forgiveness. We are only shown someone who has been wronged, and if you’re not careful, you are made to sympathize with them to such an extent because of what they have experienced, that whatever they do, right or wrong, feels necessary and justified, but that is a lie from the pit of hell. Paul reminds us that none of us is righteous, which is to say none of us are perfect or better than anyone else, and thus, none of us are in any position to be judge, jury or executioner on any matter; for none of us is without sin (John 8:7). We see over and over again how men are humbled because of their distinct belief that the rules don’t apply to them, who attempt to prosper with evil in their hearts and who believe they are God and can be judge, jury & executioner. Christ tells the accusers of the woman, he who is without sin cast the first stone. Then again, in Matthew, he says, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5).
As I watched the show, knowing the world the characters were in was vastly different from the one I live in, I felt relief as well. I was relieved that while on the show, there was no grace, mercy or forgiveness extended, in my own life, that is far from the truth. I have been redeemed. I have been forgiven and daily, I am extended grace and mercy by a God who loves me far beyond comprehension. I have brought all this up – this show and now, the vast differences between the world of the show and mine for two interconnected reasons.
We have to be mindful of what we allow into our ear gates and eye gates. But more importantly, we have to know God and the Word for ourselves and be able to recognize what are lies and what is the truth.
The show is a product of the world and in the world, there is a lack of grace and mercy, and more and more, there is an absence of God, but we know the truth! We know that God is real, we know of the extent of His Grace and mercy and that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:31-39). Even in our imperfection, there are opportunities for redemption, and we have a living Savior that reinstated us into the Kingdom of Heaven. We know how the story ends. Good triumphs over evil. Death is swallowed up in victory and love lifts us all and makes us like God our Father. These are the facts. This is the truth and this is what shall set the world free!
Scripture Reading: Matthew 7:5; John 8:7; Romans 8:31-39
