God is a storytelling God. If He
wasn't, then He wouldn't have orchestrated the writing of the bible,
which is full of stories. People remember stories; and they pierce
deeply when nothing else can. Take repentance, for example, I
understand it technically, but it doesn't move me. I know that I am a
sinner who was in danger of receiving eternal punishment at the hands
of an angry God, but I don't always feel it. I can hear the words of
John the Baptist saying 'Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at
hand” and I can hear Jesus saying, “I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
I have felt the need for repentance at
different times in my life. Namely, when I surrendered my life to
Jesus and He became my Lord and Saviour. But also when I ignored the
promptings of the Holy Spirit and fell deeply into sin and He still
pulled me out. And sometimes all it takes is a sudden realisation of
who God is and I kneel down, not able to do anything else, because
the weight of this reality makes me feel wretched.
The most recent conviction about
repentance for me was watching a movie called 'Man of Tai-Chi.' You
may be thinking, “How can a Martial Arts movie remind you of
repentance?” Chinese Martial Arts are based on fighting, not about
bringing peace between us and our creator. The first word Martial
even means 'military.' Yet when the credits began to roll at the end
of the movie, I sat there staring at the screen absolutely
dumbfounded. It's a sure sign that the Holy Spirit has spoken to you
when all you want to do is tell others about it. So why would God
speak to people through a Chinese Martial Arts movie?
The Christians in Philippi were
concerned that there were some people who were preaching about Jesus
with wrong motives—to make Paul look bad for being in prison.
Instead of rebuking them, Paul responds, “The former proclaim
Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict
me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in
pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice.”
God can use even the most
hard hearted person to get his message out there. King David wrote of
God, “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has
made.” Even though people will be sifted when Jesus returns to
judge the world, the bible tells us that God is slow to anger and
very patient. He shows kindness to all men. He gives us food,
shelter, joy, and best of all...He even speaks to us.
Everyone has a conscience,
knowing right from wrong, with a sense of morality. Even the people
who deny that morality is innate live according to what they know to
be right.This is because we were all made in the image of God and
part of us, the godliness that still lingers in our bones, proclaims
the truth. God is a storytelling God and we are a storytelling
people. The stories that we tell, sometimes, cannot help but proclaim
the truth. Sure, the enemy is there putting out his message too, but
the most popular stories are the ones that have some sort of Saviour.
That's because deep down we all acknowledge that this world is lost
and it needs a redeemer.
Another popular theme in
movies is change. No one enjoys movies where all the characters are
perfect and remain the same from beginning to end. Everyone wants to
go on a journey with the character that they identify with and see
them become a better person by the end. It gives us hope, because we
are all aware of our own shortcomings. This theme is merely a shadow
of a deeper truth, not that we are people who sometimes make mistakes
but we're really not that bad, but we are actually sinful people who
need to repent before a holy God.
That brings me back to Man
of Tai Chi. To give some background first, the movie is about a
young man named Tiger Chen who is trained by a kind master of Tai
Chi. Tiger Chen and Master Yang disagree on the philosophical aspects
of the art and Tiger is determined to prove the martial effectiveness
of Tai Chi. It becomes clear that what Tiger Chen really craves is
power and as he is lured into an illegal fighting operation by
security firm owner Donaka Mark, he slowly turns from an innocent man
into a dangerous weapon. The amazing part of the movie for me was
when Tiger Chen views a video of himself, that they were secretly
videoing from the first time Tiger met Donaka, and he is shocked to
see what he has become.
Donaka walks in the room and
says, “Anybody can watch a fight, but to watch a person's life
evolve and change, that is what I offer. This was never about the
fighting. This was about you—your life.”
To which Tiger Chen replies,
“Why me?”
And Donaka explains,
“Because we want to see the loss of innocence. We want to see a
pure hearted, good natured man of Tai Chi become a killer.”
This movie immediately
reminded me that there is an enemy out there who wants to take away
not just our innocence, but our standing before God. We don't see
ourselves fading, but it's really easy to lose yourself and become
the opposite of what your master wants you to be.
I felt touched by Tiger
Chen's repentant attitude when he is standing before the last
competitor who he has to fight to the death and he says to him, “I
won't fight you” then into the camera he says, “I will fight
you.” It reminded me of the verse in the bible that says,
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers,
against the authorities, again the cosmic powers over this present
darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Tiger returns to his
master's house, places an offering on the shrine and his master
welcomes him home. Sound familiar? “'For this my son was dead, and
is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to
celebrate.” (Luke 15:24).
I know that I am forgiven
and that I have been redeemed, but what God requires of me is
repentance. Not just saying “I'm sorry” whenever I stuff up, but
a life that is completely changed and completely for Him. I cannot
live according to the ways of the world, desiring power, money and
ambition, because they will destroy me. I am thankful for this
reminder, that the Lord will persist in moulding my character and
doesn't leave in my sin.
I pray that you might know
repentance and the joy of becoming more like Jesus and a little less
like yourself. Perhaps the movie Man of Tai Chi
is not for everyone, since it is a little violent, but I recommend
reading the bible story of Saul in Acts chapter 9. It is a profound
story about a person who repents before the Lord and becomes a
completely different person (even taking the name Paul).
