God at the Movies, Part 1 - The Soloist

For the next so many Tuesdays, I am going to blog about "God at the Movies."

Some of you may think that God doesn't ever go to movies. I disagree. I think that God not only goes, but is IN the movies.

See I believe that everything in Creation has His fingerprints on them. Unfortunately, much of His pure creation has been perverted, including us, by sin. And of course, most movies.

But if we use discernment, we can still see God's handiwork and His lessons up on the big screen. That's the aim of this series. I'm pointing out what I see.

This week: "The Soloist" a movie about a homeless celloist who has some kind of mental illness, and a Los Angeles journalist who first writes about this man and then befriends him. This movie is based on a true story.

I'm not going to lay out the entire plot but instead speak on a theme that I believe is straight from God's heart.

Helping Others. Period.

The journalist writes about the celloist. It makes a good story. But then he seeks to help him. But how? This is the crux of the movie to me. In order to help this homeless musical genius, the journalist naturally decides to give him shelter and a way out of his illness through drugs and therapy. But the celloist wants no part.

How many times do each of us seek to "help" someone else by making them into versions of ourselves? Shouldn't everyone want what I have? The best way to make sure someone else is happy is to make them follow Christ in the same way I do, right? If I really want to help my neighbor the first and best way is to get them to go to church with me, right? Not help them with their car trouble or childcare.

To truly help someone is to see a need and try to meet it. But only if that person wants to helped. Only if helping them is about THEM and not me.

Respecting another person's choices is a wonderful way to relinquish control. God guides us to do for others. Absolutely. And I think He also guides us to stop or shut up. Sometimes when we let go of making others into versions of who we are, we allow the Master Creator to step in and get busy molding.

In His image, not ours.