You...Almighty?

I watched "Bruce Almighty" this past weekend. It's a sweet movie about a man who is selfish and focused only on his need to rise to the top of his profession, going from bit time news reporter to anchor at a desk of a station, no matter the cost to others of how he gets it. In walks God (Played by Morgan Freeman) who offers him His own position. At first, Bruce is riding high, going so far as to procure an expensive car. Soon however, the newness has worn off and, after an admonishment by God, he learns how the job of being the Almighty is really done. By movie's end, God hands him a mop and says, "it's time to clean up," which they both do, sweeping the mop from one end of what looks to be an already pristine floor to the other.

I love the metaphors in this movie, because I am sure that, had we been offered God's position, we'd all do the same thing. We all have the heady, at first, feeling of "watch what I can do!" and then, do it. Like eating ice cream on a daily basis, though, soon it would lose it's luster. In the movie, Bruce is awakened one morning by the sound of many murmurings. It is the prayers of many people, fervently asking for needs gone unmet. Checking his computer, he sees a most frequent request: winning the lottery. Overnight, over 400,000 people have won...a paltry $17.42! That little granted request caused a city to go into turmoil as people began to riot over what they saw as a lottery system gone corrupt.

Be careful what you wish for...right?

Seriously though, it was the mop scene that really caught my attention. By performing a mundane function, what God was showing the now recalcitrant Bruce was that it was his transgressions that were being swept away. God forgives, and the lesson, now learned, is wiped clean.

Too often, I get lost inside my head and it usually is when I am performing a mundane function myself. Be it washing dishes, vacuuming or mowing the lawn, suddenly the devil appears and he is showing me all the sins of my past. I get lost in the pity party, in the anger, in the "what if I wasn't so STUPID!?" that I really am left feeling horrible! Satan does that: he wants us to feel despair. That is how he gets his "in." One he knows he has that leverage (think Jesus, fasting in the desert and how good that loaf of bread would be, all for an act of worship to a false deity) we too get suckered in when our level of resistance is low.

No matter what you have done, if you have repented, you have been forgiven. No kidding. Jesus loves you and only wants the best for you! "Cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you!" (1 Peter 5:7.) Wow! Tell God everything about you, He already knows anyway, but just as us earthly parents want to hear all the juicy details, so does He. There is no mountain too high for Him and no sin He hasn't forgiven that causes Him to hate you.

Feel the love yet?