Invictus

I just watched Invictus on the plane back to Africa. Good movie. Like so many people of my generation, God speaks to me in movies. Not every movie, but quite a few of them. Invictus is the story of Nelson Mandela and Rugby in South Africa, which was mostly a white sport. Anyway, what got me the most wasn’t the story, but it was Mandela himself. He was locked up in jail for 30 years, beaten many times, and forced to do hard labor, but he walked out of that prison ready to forgive every one of his captors. Woah. The injustices I’ve faced recently seem so petty in comparison. Jesus did so much for me, and I want to walk out on what He’s asked of me because of paperwork problems. Wow, that really put it in perspective for me.

The other thing that really hit me was how hard it is to stop darkness, and how to do it. You can’t fight darkness with darkness. If someone hits you, the sin increases if you hit them back. The problem actually multiplies even if you do nothing – your thoughts turn to anger, frustration, revenge… No, true forgiveness is the only way out personally. Jesus died a horrible death for us – the least we can do is forgive others.

Lord, help me with this. I want to have the same attitude and prayer as Paul had in Philippians 3:10 – I want to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering, so that by some means I may experience resurrection from the dead. Jesus, help me get to the point where I rejoice in suffering because I can become closer to Christ through it.