Then after the Captain affirms his love for Maria, she
sings, “For here you are, standing there, loving me, whether or not you should.
So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. Nothing
comes from nothing, nothing ever could. So somewhere in my youth or childhood,
I must have done something good.” So apparently her belief is that you
eventually get what you deserve. Even though she could only remember her
“wicked childhood,” she is certain that she must have done something to earn
this love she now received.
What amazes me is that in the 30 or 40 times I’ve seen this
movie I’ve never once considered the heresy that it is propagating! We probably
all have times when we get caught up in the drama or the tradition that we
don’t really think about the fallacies we’re taking in. (Television is a great
anesthetic to the brain.)
Right after watching the movie, I picked up a book I’ve been
rereading, Shame Interrupted, by Edward Welch. In writing about the Beatitudes
(Matthew 5:3-12), he quotes Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the first beatitude: “It
means the complete absence of pride, a complete absence of self-assurance and
self-reliance. It means the consciousness that we are nothing in the presence
of God. It is nothing, then, that we can produce; it is nothing that we can do
in ourselves. It is just this tremendous awareness of our utter nothingness as
we come face to face with God. That is to be poor in spirit” (p. 142).
Jumping ahead to the sixth beatitude, “Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God,” Welch comments, “One good message from this
beatitude is that pure is possible for the poor in spirit. How can that
be? When you assemble the pieces you have so far, you know that pure is
possible because you are purified by Jesus. Pure is something that is
done to you. You receive it by faith through the gentle yet powerful touch of
Jesus” (p. 149).
Among the many great lessons of the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus points out two keys here: 1) We have no confidence, ability, or
righteousness in and of ourselves. 2) All that we have comes from God through
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Based on those two realities, we can
cling to the other promises in that sermon-- “Seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not
be anxious...” (Matthew 6:33-34). “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and
you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you... how much more will your
Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (7:7,11).
I’ve needed these reminders lately when the promises of
Scripture have seemed to apply to either the past or the future, not the
present. So Friday evening I started compiling for myself a list of scriptural
“Promises for Today” and the beatitudes were one of the first places I stopped.
I also spent considerable time in the psalms, and Psalm 27:1 has come to mind
several times in the past few days: “The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be
afraid?”
Here are just a few of the other promises I pulled out:
·
Psalm 37:5-6- “Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the
light, and your justice as the noonday.”
·
Psalm 57:2- “I cry out to God Most High, to God
who fulfills His purpose for me.”
·
John 15:5- “I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart
from Me you can do nothing.”
·
James 5:11- “Behold, we consider those blessed
who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have
seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”
·
Isaiah 30:15- “In returning [repentance] and
rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
In this second week of Advent the Peace candle is lit. Peace
is built on the foundation of hope. Peace becomes a reality when we fully
believe and have confidence in the God who keeps all His promises. Jesus
Himself was the fulfillment of many Old Testament promises, and He continues to
fulfill promises today and every day. We can depend on Him while we await the
fulfillment of the final promise of eternal life in the kingdom in His presence.
“It is impossible for God to lie. We who have fled for
refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:18-19).
© 2013 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture
are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated
do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.
