Praise the
Lord for the season of Lent. My daughter Sunita reminds me about the seasons in
our lives and the seasons of our lives. She has learned to celebrate the
seasons in the life of the church. Lent is the season of reflection and a
deeper walk with Jesus as He journeyed to Jerusalem to the Cross. Praise the
Lord for the empty grave and the empty Cross.
I was
reading a brief review of the movie, “A Knights Tale”, in which Sir Orrick
travels to Paris to compete in a Jousting Tournament. Jousting was, of
course, a medieval game where two knights rode toward each other on their
horses, carrying a lance with which each tried to hit the other knight. The
first one who hit the other knight three times won the match. It kept on going
that way with different opponents until the tournament ended with one victorious
knight.
While Sir Orrick is in Paris he travels to a Cathedral to visit the woman he loves. In the Cathedral, he asks her, “Joselyn, How may I prove my love to you?” She tells him, “If you would prove your love, you should do worst.” He replies, “My worst, what do you mean?” “Instead of winning to honor me with your high reputation, I want you to act against your normal character and do badly.” “Do badly?” “Lose.” “Losing proves nothing, except that I am a Loser.” “Wrong!, Losing is a much keener test of your love.” “Losing would contradict your self-love and Losing would show your obedience to your lover and not to yourself!”
When reading this brief review, the Biblical lesson of Self-Denial popped in my head. This movie put the concept very simply if we put it on a spiritual level. In order to prove our love for God, we must lose to ourselves. We are to act against our normal character and do badly. When we lose to ourselves, we show our obedience to our lover, Christ, and not to ourselves, our wants and desires.
Luke 9:23,24 “ If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. And let him follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life, he will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake, shall find it.”
Horace Bushnell has said, “The more a man denies himself, the more shall he obtain from God.”
In Christ,
While Sir Orrick is in Paris he travels to a Cathedral to visit the woman he loves. In the Cathedral, he asks her, “Joselyn, How may I prove my love to you?” She tells him, “If you would prove your love, you should do worst.” He replies, “My worst, what do you mean?” “Instead of winning to honor me with your high reputation, I want you to act against your normal character and do badly.” “Do badly?” “Lose.” “Losing proves nothing, except that I am a Loser.” “Wrong!, Losing is a much keener test of your love.” “Losing would contradict your self-love and Losing would show your obedience to your lover and not to yourself!”
When reading this brief review, the Biblical lesson of Self-Denial popped in my head. This movie put the concept very simply if we put it on a spiritual level. In order to prove our love for God, we must lose to ourselves. We are to act against our normal character and do badly. When we lose to ourselves, we show our obedience to our lover, Christ, and not to ourselves, our wants and desires.
Luke 9:23,24 “ If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. And let him follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life, he will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake, shall find it.”
Horace Bushnell has said, “The more a man denies himself, the more shall he obtain from God.”
In Christ,
Brown
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