Men in Black: What are You Willing to Sacrifice?

 Life is filled with choices, decisions, and pathways to travel.  One choice may close the door on others; one decision may open the door to different opportunities and cause you to travel down roads you never thought you would be on.  With each choice or decision you make something is being sacrificed - an opportunity or maybe a relationship.  Saying “yes” to one thing involves saying “no” to something else.  In 1997 executive producer Steven Spielberg brought to the big screen the sci-fi comedy thriller, Men in Black - a movie about a secret agency tasked with keeping a watchful eye on the comings and goings of the aliens on the planet earth.  Their work is carried out in anonymity.  While the Men in Black labor to keep the earth safe, the rest of the population has no idea that aliens are in their midst or that the Men in Black exist.

What does this mean for those who serve in the agency?  Well, sacrifice.  Their identities are wiped from the conscious memory of society - no social security number or diver’s license; no passport or credit trail.  Joining the agency means no connection to the life and society you are leaving behind.  Even your fingerprints and health records are erased from the memory of the society that surrounds you.  And why these extraordinary measures to mask the identity of the Men in Black?  IF the society doesn’t know the aliens are living all around them, then how can you have an agency (and agents) patrolling the whereabouts of aliens?  IF one is oblivious to the aliens, then one MUST also be oblivious to the agents that keep them safe.  And when a person starts to figure out there are aliens and a secret agency keeping them safe, the response by the Men in Black is simple - erase the memory from the person. It is made abundantly clear in the movie:  The Men in Black sacrifice for the safety and well being of their fellow residents of earth.

In a very real way we are presented with choices and decisions in life on a regular and routine basis.  Some of those choices and decisions are small - what am I going to eat?  Where should I go on vacation?  What movie should I watch?  While other decisions have life long implications and impact - where should I go to school?  Should I take this job?  Should I ask this person to marry me?  And when we ask ourselves these kinds of questions we know that we are potentially sacrificing something else - other career possibilities, quality of life, lost or unrequited love.  In the movie Agent J had to make such a decision - to join the Men in Black and leave his entire life behind; to jump into the unknown and leave behind everything he previously knew.  But for Agent J the hope for adventure and purposeful living was the greater draw; to live a life of greater meaning was worth the sacrifice.

Jesus had something to say about such life decisions.  When talking with His disciples about service and purposeful living, He said:  “Whoever finds his life with loose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake with find it” (Matthew 10:39).  Finding…loosing…and finding life again.  Jesus directs us to greater purpose.  Some life decisions, when motivated and directed by faith, may cause discomfort and heartache.  There may the be loss of earthly benefits and comforts.  But Jesus points us to eternal riches that are found in the comfort and care of His outstretched arms.  In other words:  When we find our real purpose in living for Jesus we may loose some earthly ground but will gain eternal riches in Him.

And that’s where we find Agent J at the end of the movie - fully embracing his new life as a lead agent for the Men in Black.  He is willing to sacrifice for the sake of his calling.  What about you?  What are you willing to sacrifice?  What are you willing to risk for the sake for your peace and forgiveness in Jesus?  What discomfort are you willing to experience in order that you may have an everlasting peace with God?  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pastor's Kid - So This is What Real Life Looks Like?!

Image
Every so often you come across a film that is different.  You are not really sure what or how to label it.  It is  more than a drama, walks deeply into the waters of personal value or worth, and dares to traverse the divide between the secular and the Christian world.  Is it a Christian movie?  If so, can it exist under the banner of an “R” rating?  And can a Christian film really portray the depth and darkness of the sin that encompasses the individual caught in the chaos of life while arriving at a moment of personal salvation devoid of a “field scene” with outstretched arms towards a cross in the clouds? So what is this film considered?  Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Benjamin Koppin and Courtney Bandeko, the director and lead actress for the movie Pastor’s Kid (to be released March 15, 2024).  How would they describe this movie they just created?  Well, Ben used the descriptive title, “Arthouse Christian Film.”  This is a type of movie that strays from the mainstr
Read more

Shooting Stars: Perspective When Looking Back

Image
    Sometimes in order to gain perspective you have to step back.   Maybe you have to step way back.   I used to have an engineer friend who called it the “30,000 Foot View” - when looking down from on high you can see the whole picture - and, in a very real way, when we have left our high school days in the past we need the gift of time to gain perspective on who, how, and why those people and events were important in helping us become who we are.   In the new movie, Shooting Stars , released on Peacock/NBC, LeBron James does exactly that!  Co-authored with Buzz Bissinger and brought to the big screen by director Chris Robinson, LeBron James gives to us a glimpse of his perspective of his life as he looks back on his days as a baller growing up in Akron, Ohio.  A child being raised by a single mother, LeBron found friendship, family, and community with three inseparable friends:  Lil Dru, Sian, and Willie.  The four together would go on to play basketball together at St. Vincent-St.
Read more

Like Father: Forgiveness and Community is Far Better Than Division and Isolation

Image
  We have never been more "connected" as people than we are right now - digital communication has changed the entire landscape of the world.  Not too long ago, I read that more than 50% of the world is "connected" by way of cell phone/smart phone.  This means we have access to the internet and that serves as a gateway to the world - and people - and individuals...whether we want to be or not!  With that thought in mind, I stumbled across the movie Like Father  starring Kristen Bell and Kelsey  Grammer.  The premise of the movie is very real - an estranged Father follows his daughter from afar by way of the internet and discovers she is getting married.  He shows up to the wedding, hiding among the faces of those gathered, only to see his daughter left at the altar by the groom because she is too engrossed in her work and cannot electronically detach from her job (the groom looses it when her cell phone falls out of her bridal bouquet).  And this is where our story b
Read more