God
lived in Church, or at least that’s what I thought when I was a kid and to some
extent it’s true. The world is corrupt, nefarious, and nocuous, so my thinking
was that God could never dwell in the world or its culture. Culture had nothing
to offer me and by the church’s standard was either a negative or neutral
element within my spiritual life. But God is omnipresent.
So
how could God be everywhere if he couldn't even show His face in this
substandard culture in which I spend, well 100% of my time? It’s because our
culture does have something to offer us in ways of the Kingdom. God can
reveal Himself through human creations and sometimes they are created
specifically to draw our eyes upward, to feel and seek God’s presence.
This
all seems a bit obvious but I want to go out on a limb and say that God reveals
Himself even within pop culture; typically the culture church communities tend
to condemn or cast aside as distracting.
I believe we can experience God
literally everywhere we go and wherever we look; not just in Scripture, not just
in church, not just in quiet time or prayer. Don’t misunderstand me, these
mediums are the most important and should not be neglected or ignored. But
there’s more. I get burnt out and tired with the same sermons, podcasts,
stories, similes, analogies, and pictures. We have a creative God and His hand
does not stop in church or Christian radio. He can reach us through pop culture
as well.
Ancient
Plots
The narrative found within the Bible is an incredible, ancient, venerable story that has themes running through it that are older than time itself. We humans extract these themes and use them within our own creative works. They reappear in literature, TV, movies, etc. I have always been a fan of film and am a part of that generation that grew up with all the Disney Masterpieces. One of these “masterpieces” is, Disney’s the Lion King, which I greatly enjoyed as a kid and even more so now that I am an adult. I delight in it so much because of staggering parallels between the story of The Lion King and the story of the Gospel.
The
Lion King is
saturated with Biblical elements. Just look at the characters: Mufasa is
presented to us as a kingly and virtuous ruler and father figure. Mufasa is our
Christ-like character. He reigns over a kingdom of light and drives out the
hyenas from the Pridelands just as Christ drives out darkness from the world.
Also,
Mufasa is betrayed by his own just as Christ was betrayed by the Jews, his own
people. I could go on. Scar is anthropomorphized as evil, he represents Satan.
Chaos follows him wherever he goes and he brings instability, famine, and war.
His lies cause Simba to feel shame, much like our sin causes us to feel shame.
Lastly, Simba is the prodigal son character. He resembles us and meets us in
that gray area between light and dark which all of us fall under.
In the Lion King we see Simba in the midst of a “coming of age” story and within each “coming of age” story there is a faith journey as well. When Simba is young he sees possibility everywhere, he’s excited because he is the heir to a great kingdom; as are we. When we first accept Christ we are elated and just like Simba, we just can’t wait to be king. I have felt so ready to take on my life as a Christian and I just couldn’t wait to inherit what has been left for me. We are so distracted by the “high” feeling of this new life that we’re a bit too naïve to recognize the responsibility that comes along with it.
We
quickly learn that we have big shoes to fill, or paw prints in Simba’s case.
There’s some quid pro quo to being heirs to a kingdom but we also know through
Scripture that we have a Father who loves and guides us with empathic
tenderness. The scene where Mufasa grants Simba mercy instead of punishment
draws our attention to this truth and reminds us of the guidance of our own
Father. Mufasa continues to inform Simba that he won’t always be around but
that, in spirit, he will never leave- ring any bells? Mufasa basically tells him
that he will never be alone and that Mufasa will always be there to guide Simba.
This mimics Christ’s words to us, “I will not leave you all alone… In a little
while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. You will live
because I live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father and that you
are in me and that I am in you.”(John 14:18-20)Who
knew that Disney would reveal these words of
truth?
Learn
from it or Run from it
Simba's story moves along and so does ours; we slip up, we do things we regret, we sin and we are left parroting Simba's words, "It's all my fault." Satan, much like Scar in the movie, turns our guilt into shame and we, like Simba, run away from our past. We run away from our responsibility as heirs because we feel incapable and unworthy. That's exactly what Satan wants us to believe and that is exactly what Scar wanted Simba to believe so that he is no longer a threat to Scar's evil scheme. Is Satan's strategy so different?
Then
the Holy Spirit comes along, or in Simba’s case, Rafiki. I think Rafiki
represents the Holy Spirit because he seeks Simba out and asks seemingly simple
but profound questions such as, “Who are you?” Like the Holy Spirit, he pries
the truth out of us, forcing us to “look harder”, and prompts us to answer.
Simba replies by stating something like, “I thought I knew, I used to know but
now I’m not so sure.” If it hasn’t happened yet, there will come a time in your
life when you will echo similar words. I know I have said the exact same words
to myself before. This is our hope though: that the Spirit of Truth will guide
us in grasping our identities. The Spirit reminds us who we are for it is from
the Father and God knows our hearts. Like Rafiki, the Spirit proclaims, “I know
who you are! You’re Mufasa’s boy!” You’re a child of God!
Stop, listen, and
follow that beckoning voice inside you.
He
Lives in You
The Spirit also reminds us that God, that Christ is alive! Rafiki does the same for Simba when he states, “Correction, I know your father.” He casts away any doubt Simba previously had about the presence of his father. I have learned that the Holy Spirit operates in similar ways within my own life. When God feels far away, when I feel most alone, I remember that He is never far away because He lives in me. I know this because of Genesis, because of Creation. We are a reflection of our God; a corner stone of Christian theology is the concept of Imago Dei. God lives within us, He is there, guiding us always. And with this realization something awakens inside us.
Like Simba, when we forget who we are we forget God. When Mufasa tells Simba that he is more than what he has become I feel as if he is talking to me. Of course, this is true of us all. We have disastrously fallen from whence we came. However, there is grace, there is mercy. When we remember who God is we can remember who we are and so tap into our potential as heirs to God’s Kingdom. We find that we are more than our pasts, or our sins; we are so capable and so worthy because we are the children of God.
Face
the dark corners in your heart; we were not formed to remain subjugated to our
sin; nothing is so overpowering that you, with the help of Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, can’t overcome.
Like the rain that washes the desolation away from the
Pridelands, we are washed by the blood, renewed, healed, and restored to our
original design. Hope lies within us but we must choose it. We are hope within
the world, we are light, and the world needs us just like the Pridelands needed
Simba. God’s kingdom needs us or it will never be seen- that is the honorable
responsibility God has bestowed upon us.
During
the resolution of the film, Simba is able to summon the strength and confidence
to take his place on Pride Rock. We must do the same; take our place within
God’s Kingdom. Remember who you are and fully step into your rightful place as a
child of God. Listen to Rafiki, listen to the Holy Spirit when he says, “It is
time.”
God
literally is everywhere. He lives in us and He can live in the things we create
if we choose Him to be. He and what He has promised us can reside in the most
unlikely of places, like an animated children’s film from the 1990’s. When God
feels far away, when you’re burnt out from the church, from the sermons, maybe
it’s time to look for God in other places. Places where you frequent, but next
time I encourage you to take God with you. Trust me when I say it’s an easy
thing to do because you know He is never far away; “He lives in you.”
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