Yes, I did it. I went and saw Beauty and the Beast last night. Nope, I’m not going to hell because of it. Now that we have THAT out of the way, I felt compelled to share some things in light of all the recent controversy. I realize my thoughts may not be echoed by “Christians” who have taken a stand against this movie and have flooded social media with their calls of boycott, but hopefully it gives most of the people who read this an opportunity to step back and think for a few minutes.
Beauty and the Beast is an iconic Disney movie. It’s a classic and has been loved by so many people around the world. Like most things “Disney,” it is very family-friendly. When information started coming out about quotes the openly gay director of the new film had made regarding Christianity/religion, and how he was thrilled to have a “delicious” exploration of a characters sexuality, the response was swift from Christians everywhere. It wasn’t just swift, it was venomous. Arguments broke out, there was weeping and gnashing of teeth over the downfall of such a family-friendly company who was “catering to the LGBTQ community.” I get it. People were upset; but they were upset at something they had yet to see with their own eyes. Man, this happens with us “Christians” all the time anymore. I am not advocating we, as people of faith, give up our principles that are founded in God’s word. I’m just asking us to take a good look at the hypocrisy in which we far too often live our lives.
I admit, when I read quotes from the director of the movie, I was disappointed and even angry. I had already bought my tickets and had really been looking forward to seeing it. I momentarily contemplated whether or not to go and made the decision to go ahead and see it for myself. I am not one for succumbing to “hype” nor do I believe Disney was “catering to a particular community.” Let me just say this about that last thought: would these same people say that Disney was catering to the African-American community when they did Princess and the Frog, or that they were catering to the Asian community when they did Mulan? Of course not. But some would say this is different because this situation involves religion and faith. Disney has never shied away from embracing people of faith. As a matter of fact, the first weekend of December every year, Disneyland does a beautiful, faith-filled presentation of the Christmas story. There is a candlelight parade of choirs singing traditional CHRISTIAN hymns of the season. The parade ends on Main Street at the train station, where the choir assembles as a guest celebrity then begins to read the Christmas story directly from scripture. It is not paraphrased, but read directly from the Bible. The only pauses come here and there for the choir to perform another song that fits that part of the story. My sister and I just happened to be in the park years ago on the day it occurred, and it is an extremely popular event that is packed with people. Even though Disney is a family-friendly company, we were actually quite shocked by it. It was refreshing to see a company not only embrace, but present an event for Christmas that was drenched in songs of faith and verses from scripture. It was expressly “Christian,” and they make no apologies for it. So when I heard the accusation that Disney is somehow catering to the LGBTQ community in this film or trying to purposely offend Christians, it doesn’t square with other things I know about them. Disney is inclusive; they always have been. We, as a Christian community, seem to really value and appreciate that until they are inclusive of those values with which we disagree.
I entered the theater last night wondering where the offensive behavior was going to present itself. When was this “openly gay” character going to go parading across the screen in full regalia, wearing his banner of “delicious sexuality?” Interestingly, it wasn’t there. There were no overt references, no kisses, no shoving of opinions down my throat. 
What I saw was a beautifully made movie. I will not spoil the “big, gay moment” at the end, as some have called it, but will say it is the furthest thing from that assessment. Is there a moment? Yes. It is offensive? No. Could it as easily have been interpreted as a funny moment rather than something else? Yes. Shoot, Fried Green Tomatoes had more moments that could have been interpreted one way or another but you didn’t have some outrageous boycott of that movie. My point is, the few comments of a director who does not value our faith is what blew this up. As usual, we are picking and choosing when to be outraged and when we don’t think twice about it.
If people want to protest, boycott or trash this movie or Disney, they certainly have the right to do so, but you better be sure to protest and boycott every other company or product that goes against your values or promotes things with which you don’t agree. Do any of you drink Starbucks, own an Apple product, eat Barilla pasta or have eaten Frito-Lay chips while drinking a Pepsi Co. product? Then you need to put them down right now! Drop the Doritos and hit your knees! (5 Companies going above and beyond for the LGBTQ community) By the way, I hope none of you put Chevron gas in your cars either. How many of you/us watch TV shows that portray premarital sex? Do you watch shows that portray lying, cheating or stealing? Do you watch or read things that portray gossiping, overeating or getting drunk? Let’s just get real here. Do you? I’ll even go further. How many of us actually engage in those behaviors ourselves? Yeah, we don’t want to answer those questions. We’d rather pick a “sin” we don’t engage in and blast everyone about how terrible they are for engaging in it or supporting it. Then we turn around and lie, cheat or gossip about others. Better yet, we refuse to forgive someone or love others as Christ loved us. After all, loving others is a commandment directly from God (Matt 22:36-39). No wonder people in this world look at us and say they want nothing to do with us or our God. The truth is, we don’t reflect Him. They can’t see Him in us because we are too busy being modern day Pharisees. We show our righteous indignation over some things, but then not over others. We choose certain footprints of Christ in which we will walk, but refuse to walk the PATH He walked. We are inconsistent, and believe me, the world sees it completely!
Should we stand for our beliefs and values? Absolutely! But I guess it’s time we look closely at those beliefs and values, because what we say we believe and what we ACTULLY act upon are usually two very different things. We teach that God is no respecter of persons but then turn around and treat people differently based on certain criteria. We teach that God loves everyone and so should we, but turn our noses up at those who we think don’t deserve our love or forgiveness. We teach that lying is wrong, but we lie. We teach that anything in excess is a sin but we overindulge in food, drink, exercise, watching TV, working, and the list goes on. We teach obeying the laws of our land, but then exceed the speed limit. We teach abortion is a sin but engage in premarital sex. We teach the truth but so often refuse to LIVE it, and then wonder why churches and people of faith are appearing more and more irrelevant. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out!
Here’s the bottom line: If we are going to call ourselves “Christians,” then we need to act like Christ. You remember Him, right? He was the one eating with the criminals and loving the unlovable. He was the one reaching out to the sinners engaged in all kinds of reprehensible behaviors and offering them forgiveness, love and hope. He was the one condemning the religious people of the day who went around acting holy for the sake of being seen. Remember Him? He shattered religion. He lived in perfect accordance with His word and spent more time with the “sinners” than the “saints.” If He was walking the earth today, Christianity – the religion with Him at the center, would reject Him, shame Him, destroy Him on social media, and then do everything they could to silence Him. We are the Pharisees and we need to realize that following Jesus means letting go of our pride and spiritual arrogance and live from a place of love and compassion. And we need to live it consistently. Jesus called the Pharisees a “generation of vipers.” God help us to not reach the point where He says the same of us. We are dangerously close to being those same snakes that stood in judgment of the sins of others instead of their own.
It’s time to take the beam out of our eyes before we go hunting for splinters.
Blessings.
Our society places a lot of value on beauty and outward appearance. We think nothing of having work done (or of others having work done) to try and circumvent the effects of aging, and yet we are paying less and less attention to how we look on the inside. We are losing our ability to be civil and courteous, and nowhere is this truth more apparent than on Facebook and other social media sites. Over the past 6 months or so, I have been spending less time on Facebook and much of the time I’ve spent was, or is, hiding posts from people on ALL sides of varying issues (political or other). My tolerance for the intolerance shown by so many people on so many subjects has really worn thin. Before I go any further, let me just say that if you think I’m one of those people who just wants to stick their heads in the sand and not care, or are not willing to be engaged in thoughtful or even passionate discussion, I can assure you nothing is further from the truth. I choose to be very engaged, just not online.
That’s part of what is wrong with instant news. Stories used to have time to develop before everyone heard something and reacted. We’ve seen many stories that turned out not to be as they were originally portrayed, but it was too late to stop the reactions or public opinion – even when the facts finally come out. On top of that, there is so much “fake” news that now exists for the sole purpose of stirring people up, or even worse, slandering or attacking them.
We don’t walk away from people who are rude or aggressive anymore, instead we devolve into them ourselves. We forget that we are talking to human beings, and instead treat each other like animals. We are bullies. We are arrogant and insensitive asses. We devolve into everything we say we aren’t or that we preach against. We watch our friends tear each other down and just sit there. We think, because we don’t read or react to the garbage that rolls through our feeds, that it isn’t affecting us. But it is. It wears on us until we finally crack. I’ve fallen victim to it on several occasions myself. “It” being that almost uncontrollable urge to fight back or snipe back at someone who is being unreasonable or, God forbid, wrong! I’ve given into it on occasion, but it has almost always come with regret at some point.
So why does it matter? It matters because we are conditioning ourselves in ways that are harming us as individuals and as a society. Our “real” lives are in turmoil. We hear of tragedies almost daily where someone has attacked or even killed others. We hear of relationships of all kinds falling apart and everyone is more concerned with blaming each other and making sure they are the one who comes out “looking good.” We watch kids bully and be mean to each other but then whine and cry when someone does the same to them. We wring our hands and wonder why this selfish behavior has become so common, but we refuse to look in the mirror and admit we are part of the problem. Whether we are actually fighting or being a voyeur, we are part of the problem. We are more and more desensitized which makes us less and less self-aware. In our “real” lives, we are becoming quicker to point out others who are being rude, offensive or a host of other negative traits while not seeing our own.
We are ALL humans. We are all imperfect and we all are tempted to get caught up in the drama with which we are constantly bombarded. Instead, let us hold each other close in heart. Let us truly love each other instead of tearing each other down. Let’s purge our social media feeds AND our lives of the things that continually remind us of how we are different we are and start looking at how we are all the same. Yes, it’s time for a “face”lift of a different kind, so I will leave you with this: “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16)
There is a very familiar song from a very popular movie that continually tells us to “let it go.” Not a bad thought considering how many things in life seem to take us down in one way or another. We are hit continually with circumstances beyond our control – jobs, family issues, health issues, even the political climate – all of it can just wear us down to the point we truly feel like we cannot get up one more time. After all, why get up when life is just going to knock you back down again? That seems like a very valid question, doesn’t it? Of course it does, until you remember something all people of faith forget: Our circumstances may be out of our our control, but they are never out of God’s.
God never meant for us to hoard things in this world. He never wanted us to put down roots here when our forever home is actually with Him. “Yeah, yeah, but that’s just a nebulous concept when I’m living in the NOW.” We really struggle with letting go of anything! The things we consider “good” in life (money, secure jobs, good relationships, homes and possessions, etc.) are hard to let go of because we think if we “let it go” that means we lose it. The things we consider “bad” (money, secure jobs, bad relationships, possessions we’ve acquired, etc.) are hard to let go of because they are familiar and serve a purpose for us – even if that purpose is less than desirable. What we have is what we know, and we don’t like to consider the unknown. We don’t want to consider that letting go means everything might change. Letting go of the “good” means we lose and letting go of the “bad” means everything will be unfamiliar. After all, either way, what if we let it go and then don’t make it? What if we don’t survive? What if, what if, what if?
Life is difficult. We were never promised it would be easy, but it can be rich and fulfilling if we can learn to let things go. When we learn to let go, we also learn to embrace. Hurts that we have endured through various means or people can cripple us forever if we let them. People who have let us down, angered us, treated us poorly or unfairly, or rejected us completely don’t have to diminish us. Situations that have (or are) less than perfect don’t have to destroy us. We don’t have to hold onto our grudges or hurts. We don’t even have to hold on to our expectations that have gone unfulfilled. We probably need to readjust those expectations anyway. We, especially as people of faith, have a problem. We hold ourselves in such high regard that we feel like we have a right to hold onto our anger and hurt. We think so highly of ourselves that we feel entitled to NOT let things go. We think it is our right to make sure everything is eventually evened out in our world and that we are treated fairly, and we spend a lot of our time, energy and resources to ensure it happens. I have news for you: making things “fair” is not your responsibility. Do you know what IS your responsibility? Loving God, loving each other and letting things go.
Stop trying to cling to the familiar or to your desire to see that others get what you think they deserve. Quit holding onto your wounds as badges of honor and be willing to let the wounds in your heart heal. Let it go. Open your heart and let go of the pain from those who didn’t love you and embrace the One who does. And when the circumstances in your life start overwhelming you, or you feel that need for revenge start to rise within you, let it go. It isn’t worth it. We were never meant to carry around the weight of the world with us. We can do exactly what God’s word says in 1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast your cares on Him because He cares for you.” When we do that, we can still see the sun, no matter how the storms may rage around us. We can say, with great assurance, “Here I stand in the light of day. Let the storm rage on, the cold never bothered me anyway.”
For years, California has been in a historic drought. This week we have been hit with torrential rains which have caused all kinds of issues, including flash floods in many areas. Weather events can bring all kinds of challenges and even destruction, but that’s not the point of this particular post. Instead, I want to talk about an idea I call “spiritual irrigation.”
Irrigation allows us to be more in control of our destiny. We can plant crops where they wouldn’t normally thrive because we have found ways to transport water from one location to another in ways it wouldn’t occur naturally. Irrigation certainly requires less reliance on God to provide the rain we need – or think we need. We have gotten so used to doing things our way that we forget the source of our blessings. We start thinking we are truly in control of something as basic as water itself. Oh sure, we pray for God to bless us with rain but if we get too much, we start to complain. After all, we’ve been watering our crops and now that it’s raining, there’s too much water! We wring our hands and wonder what we are going to do. We’ve all seen buildings (or cities) built in areas where there is little doubt they will be flooded or even washed away if there is a lot of rain. We actually criticize people in these areas and say, “well what did they expect? They built in the middle of a flood zone.” But why? Because the rains don’t always come and after a while, no one actually believes they will.
I am tired of being a “spiritual irrigator,” and my definition of a drought is probably much different than God’s. I want to live with a faith that follows God’s leading and trusts Him to provide the rain. When we shed our need for control and put on that cloak of trust, we get to experience the most amazing moments. We get to dance in the rain because we know from where it came. We start seeing God’s providence instead of looking at Him as if His ways are interrupting our great plans. From our perspective, it is better to plan and execute rather than follow and trust. But from God’s perspective, it is far better to simply trust Him for everything we need and then dance in the rain when it falls.
Gossip. We’ve all been victims of it, and we’ve all been perpetrators of it. We hate when we hear someone has been talking poorly about us and it might even anger us when what is said is untrue. There’s a great lesson in the old game of “telephone” where one person whispers something to the person next to them, and then it is passed along through the line or circle of people and then spoken out loud at the end. Rarely is it even close to what was originally said, which often brings great laughter. Sometimes the morphing of the statement happens simply from people misunderstanding a word here or there, and sometimes it happens because someone deliberately changes a word or two just for the “fun of it.” Either way, it is a great reminder that whenever we hear something second, third (or even further) hand, we need to be very careful in how we react to it.
Lately it seems this subject has come up more and more, whether it is at work, church, family or other relationships. I think we go through seasons where it just flares in all areas, and we watch the destruction that it can cause when people “share information” with or about others. (In case you didn’t know, “sharing information” is just a nice way of saying “gossiping.” LOL) Anyway, It struck me this week how important it is for us to go back to that one first and foremost commandment that we love God above all else and the second that we love others as ourselves. I have shared often about the characteristics and nature of love as it is described to us in the Bible, and one of the traits that came up for me recently is where it says it “believes all things.” That means it believes the best in people regardless of what is said. It means you choose to believe the best about those you love, and when gossip hits your ears about something they may or may not have actually said about you, then you choose to believe it was a misunderstanding. If I love you and esteem you better than myself, I won’t fall prey to spreading gossip about you or taking gossip I hear about you to heart.
As I mentioned earlier, if I love you in the manner God has instructed me to love, and someone else tells me that you said something mean, nasty or untrue about me, I will choose to not believe it. Until God reveals otherwise, I will believe that something has been misunderstood or misinterpreted along the way. And if I don’t do that, then I’m not really exhibiting love at all. I know there are some who will disagree with me when I say this, but we don’t have a right to be angry, set the record straight or even clear our names. We don’t need to try and root out the source of the gossip so we can confront it. We need to simply leave it up to God, and the truth is we don’t like that one bit! It goes against our nature. The way we stop tongues from wagging is to simply not be one of them. And when something is said, we should respond with something like “I’m not comfortable hearing or discussing this unless that person is here to defend themselves.” That holds true whether we want to agree with the gossip or not. It’s easy to believe the bad about a person (or their intent/motives) when their personality rubs us the wrong way. Even as Christians, we tend to always believe the worst in each other. We may start out believing the best, but then something happens that we disagree with, we just stew about it. It’s just so much easier to believe the negative. And, truth be told, a lot of times we actually take pleasure in it. That should never be the case! We need to remember that we need to guard and control our ears as much as we need to guard and control our tongues!
This life of faith – “kingdom living” – is a higher calling, and if we are not going to rise up to that level, then we need to stop calling ourselves Christians. I’m not saying we will always be successful, because we will fail. We will fail miserably because our emotions will get in the way. We will fall prey to the enemy’s advances in our lives through our tongue and through our ears. It is time for it to stop. It is time to stand up and truly love in the way we are commanded. Because when we don’t, we are out of fellowship with God. It is not a feeling; it is a choice. It isn’t important what someone else says about you or what you may have heard about someone else. What is important is that when we engage in gossip or any other unloving behavior toward each other, God no longer hears our prayers because we now have unconfessed sin in our own lives (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:2). The only way we can break through the deafening barrier of our own sin is by confessing it to God and asking for His forgiveness, which he has promised to grant every single time (1 John 1:9).
So as for me, it is my renewed commitment to be constantly striving to love as God expects me to love and forgive as He expects me to forgive. For me, it is a renewed commitment to believe the best in my brothers and sisters (and even non‑believers), whether at home, church, work or anywhere else. We need to do it with our spouses, children, family, friends, coworkers , etc., and yes, even with our enemies. There is no such thing as “partial obedience” when God instructs us to do something. It is pretty simple: either we obey or we do not. Let’s get back to weeding our own gardens instead of trying to weed each other’s. Let’s take the log out of our own eyes before trying to remove the splinter from someone else’s. And let’s quit finding creative ways to rationalize our behavior when it does not coincide with what we SAY we believe or KNOW is true. I call you to join me. I call us to action. Because through love, we are truly unstoppable.
The Cadence of My Soul 