Soooo we finally got Netflix.
I think we’ve had it for two or three months now, and it is way more convenient than dragging little Mr. Man down to the library and keeping his squishy little fingers from “reorganizing” all the books and DVDs.
But while we have now we have easier access to a variety of good shows and films, we also have equally easy access to some of the bad stuff. There have already been a handful of TV shows we had to stop watching because of the increasingly prevalent sexuality portrayed. I’m married and have my own sex life. I don’t need to watch actors and actresses grope each other on camera.
(Like, do they really have to take their clothes off on the second date? C’mon, people. Keep it together.)
Anyway, because I get tired of fast-forwarding what I don’t want to watch, I often hop over to the Disney Channel during sleepy toddler snuggles. Yeah it’s usually pretty silly stuff, but I don’t have to worry about crass language or people losing their clothes. There is, however, a recurrent theme in Disney: Find yourself. Be yourself. Express yourself.
So there’s a lot of you-focus (or me-focus) in Disney. Not that I didn’t know this before, but it’s something I’ve been thinking more about lately.
We are selfish beings. We like things to be about us. We like other people to discover us and know us.
In this way, we are a lot like God. Except that for God it’s not being “selfish”, because life really is all about Him.
And isn’t that a kicker? Instead of digging deeper inside ourselves and searching for our own potential (or potential fame)…imagine what will happen when all of that self-infused energy gets redirected to seeking God.
I started re-reading through the Old Testament this month. Currently the Israelites have made it through the Red Sea and are grumbling about not having water to drink. That God is the same God in existence today. A God of power and wrath and love; a God who claimed a nation for Himself and rescued them from human slavery, just as He will again rescue His people from sin’s slavery.
I’ve also been reading about Jesus in the Gospels. And the same God that was with the Israelites is the same one who put Jesus on the earth 2,000-some years ago to teach people a new way to live. To free them from old laws that made them legalistic instead of loving. To teach them to love and pray for their enemies.
Oh and hey, that God is the same one today who beckons our hearts toward Him. Reading Scripture allows us to discover the heart of God; it shows us how the things He does are for His glory, and how we are to do the same.
For His glory. For His fame.
Maybe you’re already good at this…but I find it convicting.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
– Colossians 3:17
“If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
– 1 Peter 4:11
And then there’s that verse about eating and drinking and doing that for God’s glory, too. But more on that later.
jess leigh hanna 