Wreck it Ralph is a Disney movie about a character who is tired of wrecking things and wants to be a hero. While Ralph is the main character another character plays an important role. He is Fix it Felix.
Felix goes around and fixes the things Ralph wrecks. He has a golden hammer with which he can solve any problem and defeat Ralph. When Ralph is defeated, the tenants of the apartment throw him off the building and celebrate Felix.
You may be wondering what this has to do with our faith. How can a Disney movie about a fictitious video game speak into my life and faith?
The parallels I am drawing may not be so obvious for some but are pretty clear to me.
As Americans we like to fix things. We are good at it. I remember in Russia hearing a man say “If you want something done, call the Americans.” We work hard and people know it. We overcome problems with a good worth ethic and a can do attitude. We bring this attitude into our faith.
It is easy to see things around us that are broken and needing fixing. Like Felix we can get the job done. As Christians we experience Jesus as being the one who has forgiven us, loved us and in some way, fixed us. We are eternally grateful and in our gratefulness share our experience with others.
Here is where the problem comes in for some.
The Good News isn't a golden hammer. In fact, life can get far messier when Christ’s Lordship and our selfishness collide. Jesus didn't come so that people could have a better life no matter what some believe about the Gospel. He certainly didn't live, die and resurrect only to make sure we went to heaven. The Good News, the golden hammer if you will is Jesus is Lord…of all. Because of this, we are called to live our lives in the here and now embracing His Lordship and revealing a New Kingdom to those around us. We don’t do this by beating them with a golden hammer, but in Christ’s wisdom, we are to love people.
So much for Fix it Felix.
Our need and desire to see people better isn't bad. It can however, over shadow the call to love them. Not fix them. As a community we have many opportunities to interact with people every day. Do they need fixing? Sure. So do you and I. What you and I and everyone around us really need is to be loved like crazy. It is God’s mercy that leads to repentance (Romans 2.4), not our efforts to fix. We do the loving, God does the fixing.
People aren't projects to be completed. People aren't problems to be fixed. They aren't even to be gathered up and thrown off the building when they repeatedly fall or keep ‘wrecking things’. People are made in God’s image and the same way we are loved by Him, we are to love those around us. So let’s put aside our need and desire to fix and concentrate on what it looks like to love and be loved.
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