Have you ever watched E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial? Of course you have, who hasn’t?
Now I know Steven Spielberg has stated that there are no Christian messages in the movie, but something did stick out for me.
At the end, ET is saying goodbye to the family. He looks at Gertie (the young girl) and says “Be Good.” Then he turns to Elliot, and they have a tear-jerking moment where he promises that he will always be in Elliot’s heart.
WOW!
And all Gertie got was a “Be Good” That kinda sucks doesn’t it?
But what else can you say to a five year old?
She’s only a child, and probably already has strong feelings of loss welling up in her, and she is probably going to miss him as much, but all she can cope with at the moment is “Be Good.”
Elliot on the other hand, ET has formed a special bond with, and he needs to explain how that bond will go on, and they will always be together, even though he won’t see him again.
So here’s my thinking. When we’re young, GOD tells us to be good. Because that’s how we can show that we love him. We can sing all the songs about having “Jesus in my heart” and “I love Jesus” and they are probably true. In our child-like state we show that love by being good.
But we can’t be good forever. Or at least, we can’t think that being good is going to carry us forever.
I know you’re probably all fine, but I know a young fish who has problems with this sometimes.
He wakes up in the morning, and prays that God will help him to be a good fish all day. Then he struggles through the day, fighting temptation all the way, until the end of the day. They he says his prayers, and apologises for being naughty sometimes, but promises to be better tomorrow.
And GOD says to him “What about me? Did you spend any time with me today?”
“Uh, not Lord. I was too busy trying to be good.”
“Do you think that’s what I want from you? To be good? No, my fishy friend, I want so much more. I want YOU.”
“Huh.”
“Do you really think you can ever be good? Without me, you will just burn yourself out everyday trying to be good. I want you to be good, so that you can be closer to me. And if you come closer to me, I will help to make you good.”
Of course I’m sure he’s the only fish in the world with that problem. Poor guy.
Sometimes he tries so hard to be good, he forgets why he’s doing it.
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Going out on a limb...but I am thinking that God is more proud of this fish than he realizes. The fact that this fish is aware of the time he needs/craves with God is proof that he is on his way to being more good, or "better" as us humans like to say. ;)
ReplyDelete(on a side note, every time I tried to type "good".....I kept typing "god"....I thought it might be the fact that I am on my third cup of coffee and jittery....but maybe not)
Although this looks like a lure (sorry, no pun intended for a little fish)....but I just blogged about something similar...wait, let me go get it and share it with you here:
"....I should have given God His sacred portion of my time before anything/anyone got some. I know the intention behind my blog is to share/shout about how much I love Jesus....but guess what? I think that sometimes I am too busy about God's business that I am leaving Him out"
ouch.
I never saw the movie. Am I still welcome here?
ReplyDeleteI suppose there needs to be a balance. I'm not any better at balancing than your fishy friend is. I'm going to keep trying.
Like my friend Doug Spurling has said, "We're not human DOings, we're human BEings."
ReplyDeleteAnd from my pastor's sermon yesterday, "If who you are is what you do, who will you be when you can't do it any more?" ~ Dr. Joe Stowell
Your Father smiles at you, favorite fish, simply for who you are, that you can only be and never do: you're His beloved son.