Growing up with a fascination in systems of power and the stories of justice, liberation, control, slavery means some of my hobbies and interests, pastimes and pursuits would not necessarily be part of the mainstream. At this stage of my maturing process I still don’t have a lot of concrete conviction based answers on certain issues, but I am still determined to develop more in gaining wisdom.
Yesterday I told you I watched the Airplane comedy to inspire my post. Today’s post has been inspired by another film this one the epic Richard Attenborough film Gandhi. If you have not watched it and are interested in issues of humanity I cannot recommend it highly enough. It’s not short, but it is worthwhile to engage with some of the issues that we think are all 20th Century issues, but persist t this day as long as people identify injustice taking place on a small or large scale.
I watch the movie – one of the first films I ever saw at a cinema almost 25 years ago – and I am impacted again not just with the moving story and outstanding performances, but by the underlying issues. No, not the issue of how bad the British Empire was, or the subjugation of a nation and how it was manipulated into a painful independence. Worthy issues though they are. I consider that issue of freedom and slavery again. I reflect on the bravery and courage of a man to live by his convictions and encapsulate so many virtues and fight such a campaign on those virtues.
In all this I am stopped by my tracks by one question – does this honour and glorify God?
It is a question that leads some to think that because Gandhi lived such a noble life full of peace and humility surely the brother did more to live out Kingdom values than many of those dressed in Christian garb. To an extent that is true. We then travel the road of guessing who will ‘go to heaven’ and proclaim that the likes of Gandhi must go because of his great works for peace, justice, etc.
What continues to arrest me though is that Jesus’ mission was not just for values and for people to agree on these values and then live their lives that way. Reconciliation with God is not an issue of just ‘doing the right thing’. The cause worth dying for as a follower of Christ – is Christ. Not just for what He stood for, not just for what He did, but for Him.
I continue to admire the efforts of humanitarians who continue to sacrifice ambition and worldly acclaim for those noble virtues. They inform greatly my appreciation for people of different viewpoints. What it also reminds me is that the greatest enemy of humanity is humanity and the answer to that threat is divinity in humanity in the man Christ Jesus – there is no other answer. That remains the cause worth living and dying to live for.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 