One cold February morning I was sitting in the rocking chair
looking out the French doors into the snow covered back yard, as I pondered the
scripture I had just read. Most winter mornings you can find me in the same
spot having my morning connection time with God. This morning as I read my
thoughts were drug off to another place.
This is not necessarily a bad thing being a creative person some of my
best ideas come from these little rabbit trails. The more I tried to refocus it
seemed the stronger the ideas became. I pushed the creative thought process to
the side and tried to refocus. Then the scripture started to move with in me
and intertwined with the ideas and started to make sense to me.
Earlier in the year I had decided to read the book of Romans
again and I had been putting it off until now. So I decided to read a chapter a
day during my quiet time and that is how this process got started. Another
thing that I started was watching a TV show my kids have recently have been
watching. The problem was that the show was about well something that I had
always associated with being wicked or dark. Just not what I would have
considered something that a good Christian should be spending their time doing.
The show has an apocalyptic theme and zombies. When ever I heard someone
talking about zombies or the zombie apocalypse I would just roll my eyes and
move on or think how stupid is that, the world ending through zombies. Part of
me also had strong spiritual issues with it being about the undead. This was
just evil, something taking control of the mind and body, if you called
yourself a Christian how could you indulge yourself in this? It just isn’t
right. So I wanted to try and understand what my kids saw in this show that
seemed to intrigue them. I have to say that each of my children have a strong
active relationship with the Lord and have pretty good discernment on most
things as far as teen kids can. So I needed to try and understand why the interest?
So, I started to watch the show and the more I watched it
the more I started to understand why they liked it. It wasn’t the zombies or
the violence that is portrayed in the show. It was about the relationships of
the characters and the choices they decided to make and even the hard ones they
were forced to make. It was about the survival and the fight to hold onto a
disappearing belief system that is woven through society. To be honest I too
was interested in what they would do. Then my thoughts turned to what would I
do if I was forced into a situation like this.
I’m not a corner dooms day crier but if were honest and look
around at our society its obvious to see that things in this world are not all
happy and shiny. The blatant sinfulness that we are bombarded with daily though
media and just living is taking its toll on this world and us. Scripture tells
us the even the earth cries out because of our sin. (Romans 8:22) So something is going to happen one way or
another. I rest assure that God has it all under control but some day I may
have to make some hard decisions and I’m not sure what I may do. I do know that
I will want to stay in Gods will.
As I started in Romans I noticed something an idea. The idea
that may be a bit crazy but non the less interesting and worth the time to sit
and think for a while about what this could mean. Here it is scripture tells us
that we are dead when we are living a sinful life. (Ephesians 2:5) We are in a world that has the walking dead
all around. Now I understand that we are raised to new life in Christ but just
the same we are in a sense the dead. The old has passed and the new has come.
(Romans 6:4) this is how I see it. In Christ we are made new but still we are
slaves to the earthly body. This body will continue to degenerate and fall apart
until it will no longer function. When this happens the new creature that has
been trapped will be freed and rejoined in heaven with the Father.
Okay you maybe saying yea that’s nice and all and so you see
a correlation from scripture to a popular show. Well it’s more than that it’s a
culture shift of a younger generation this should be looked at as an
opportunity to reach out and bridge a gap. Those who know the truth of what the
future holds in this life and beyond can take this pop culture trend and use it
to reach those who have little to no understanding of the Gospel. I’m not
saying that we all need to watch zombie movies. I am saying that the Church
consistently misses the mark on taking things that are on the rise in our
culture and using them to reach a unbelieving society who is looking for
answers.
You may say well you can’t use everything. That is true some
things are not appropriate to use but then sometimes we wait to long to move
forward and bridge the gap that the opportunity to make a difference in gone. We
must not wait or miss opportunities to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Yes,
it may not be our choice way of reaching out but this is not about us.
I have though about that gruesomeness of the killing and all
the blood in the show. Here are some of my thoughts. We have a generation that
has played games like Halo and mortal combat they have seen things in movies
that blow me away. Not to mention the reality shows of the war. Perhaps that
may be the key thing to think about we are in a war and the more that we let
our guard down and sweep things under rug the less prepared we are for when
things do get really bad. We bury our heads in the sand and say that will never
happen to me I hope you are right but it may happen to our kids and will they
be ready? I’m not saying open Pandora’s box and submerse our kids in this. What
I am saying that we need to be smart and think about how we can best help them
face whatever the future holds. If you haven’t heard Christian persecution is
not over and never will be and it is in even the United States and growing
rapidly.
The question is what will you do or how will you handle
situations that you find yourself in? If its terrorist, government control,
natural disaster to a viral epidemic we need to think about how we can preserve
our faith and reach those who are part of this sin ruled disobedient society.
Just some things to think about.
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