God is love

I recently dropped out of Bible school.

After I left, I needed a wake-up call. A few days passed and we wanted to watch a movie with my beloved one. I wanted to see something about healings, prayers, the church, the living God – I didn’t feel like any pointless plot. However, I was afraid that such issues were only discussed in some documents on YouTube, and after watching many such documents, I know that it is difficult to find anything other than the approach: “We know better, and we have been deceived in the church. The truth is with us ”- that is, ideology.

Then the thought came to my mind: „Does God have no idea for a movie for us?” So I followed the blow and asked Him, “Dad? What are we going to watch? Seba was browsing Netlix at the time. Netflix – haha! „Well, God is not there for sure …” – I thought in my mind.

Suddenly among the various titles this one appeared – “Facing the Giants.” Not allowing the thought that it might be about the intervention of THIS God – Jesus, God the Father, JHWH, I started reading the description: “The school football coach must face with a bad team and the possibility of losing his job, but he doesn’t give up and brings the spirit of victory to the pitch. „Okay, sounds like the Gospel. Maybe we’ll get something out of this, even if it’s not about” that „God.

After some time, we are very surprised. In the film, they quote God’s Word, the football team is a Christian school team, the name „Jesus” is mentioned many times. „Is that really Netflix?” – I ask both aloud and in my mind.

I have been deeply moved from the beginning. The team’s coach – resigned to defeat in advance, overwhelmed, taking everything around very personally – it reminds me of myself.

We watch further, the situation is developing. In short – the coach changes tactics, gives everything to God, begins to evangelize the team, encouraging them to give glory to the Lord in everything they do. The team starts praying together, studying God’s Word together, the coach also changes the approach to himself, his marriage, the health problem he is struggling with, the team begins to win, and finally comes to a decisive match, where the last chance to win is to kick balls at a distance of 50 m.

And here begins the critical scene for me – Dave is chosen to kick the ball – a boy who cannot kick that far, or at least does not believe that he can do it. In response, the trainer reprimands and reassures him accordingly, and eventually Dave decides to face the situation. He stands on the pitch, all eyes on him. The camera, however, is directed at someone else – his Father.

Dave’s father is disabled, he is in a wheelchair. He supports his son in his dreams of a great sports career, persuading him to never give up, always try. Sometimes, when he has something to lean on nearby, he stands up against the object. He seems to be someone who believes in the impossible. He believes in his son and wants to show it to him.

At the moment when his son faces probably the greatest challenge of his life so far, he grasps the fence from behind which he is watching the match, with great effort gets up from his wheelchair and, as a sign of victory, unification, raises his hands up – „I am with you, son , you have already conquered. ” He refuses to accept help from a cleaning worker who approaches him – I think – concerned about the behavior of a man who, according to the image of reality adopted by most of us, should not be able to cope, so – in the name of good deeds, of course – he must be helped. He does it for his son – so that he can see that everything is possible for those who believe and trust, for those who care.

The son identifies himself with the Father, he kicks the ball 50 m away, the team wins, the arrogant coach of the opposing team is defeated”, the atmosphere of God’s kingdom is fulfilled, God’s words are fulfilled, everything fits, you want to say: he is the victor, in him one always wins, the proud opposes, and he gives grace to the humble, we will see the wicked wages, etc. etc., but … „why did God show himself to me as a cripple in this movie?” This thought is the hardest in my head. It touches the innermost cell of my heart, separates the joints from the marrow, the soul from the spirit.

Well … – I consider and analyze – „He suffered our sorrows, our sufferings”, so there was a moment when God fell ill. „His wounds are our healing,” okay, but that is not enough for me to understand what is happening inside me. All my biblical knowledge goes to graze when I see God the Father in the body of a crippled man and when he says to me, “I identify with you in your weaknesses. It is as real now as it was 2,000 years ago. I have become a cripple for you. I can become one for you now. If you feel so inefficient today, inadequate, disappointed – let’s switch places. I will give you my strength, you will give me your weakness. „

I begin to realize that love is humbling, that when you love, it’s no shame to supper with tax collectors, prostitutes, that you even need to do it, because you don’t want to give your children, your creature, to be destroyed. by the enemy. There is a need to stand on the side of the weaker, unnoticed, so that everyone knows that God is not a corporate boss, a successful person for successful people, but a close, compassionate and available person. Love makes you strip yourself of your glory and sit in a wheelchair so that at least one disabled person can accept that you love him and understand his suffering.

And then I see a picture in my heart – a church meeting. A man in a wheelchair who would like to walk comes to the meeting. I’m at this meeting. I wonder what I can give him from what Bible school has given me. Accuse him of not believing? To what extent is his responsibility, where „responsibility” will sound like „guilt”? Give him a lecture on the goodness of God, which everyone should know about, only that they read the Bible inattentively (that’s why a Bible school was established, where they will explain the Lord Jesus to you for an appropriate fee). I quickly see that it is all haughty. And nothing of my wisdom remains when this guy in a wheelchair turns out to be Jesus incognito.

What will make me credible to Him? What will be enough to make him want to listen to me? What can I offer him that he does not have? My love for him? Was that what it was about? What makes people get out of wheelchairs and regain their eyesight and hearing? What makes their skin, kidneys, heart, liver, brain, lungs healthy? What is the essence of this?

“Faith without works is dead, but faith is active in love. If you cannot see that, no matter how much you know, Jesus has come to the same person who is not coping with something or anything like He came to you, you are turning into a Pharisee. If you cannot meet someone where he is now, you are not like Jesus. You don’t have to earn respect. 'The respect of being my creation belongs to everyone. My Kingdom is neither a labor camp nor a corporation. ’ – It was God who said to me that evening, and then I sobered up.

Ewa