What Does The "Edge of Tomorrow" Movie And The Video Game "Contra" Have To Do With God's Call On Your Life?
We had some family members visiting from out of town. They kids were in bed and we all decided to watch a movie. The movie that we watched was Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. The theme of the movie was LIVE. DIE. REPEAT.
Without getting into all the details of the plot it’s suffice to say that the character Tom Cruise played had a specific, heroic mission to accomplish. Whenever he died trying to complete his epic battle against a seemingly unbeatable alien enemy, he would come back to life and start again. For the record, I absolutely do not believe in reincarnation. The Bible clearly teaches the exact opposite. (Hebrews 9:27) Yet, I was so intrigued by the idea of this guy not fearing failure or death while aggressively carrying out his mission.
That’s when this code started clicking across my brain…
↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A Start
Seriously though, why was my brain using valuable storage space on a video game code that I used in 1988 on an old school Nintendo game system??
That code would give a player an extra 30 lives to use in finishing their combat mission objectives. Having all those lives changed the way you played the game!
The scary thing is that a whole bunch of real life “grown-ups” in their mid 30s have the same exact code still stuck in their brain too! Doctors, lawyers, teachers, coaches, pastors, leaders in society have space in their brain being used up by this same piece of random information.
Sometimes the “useless” information in our brain is more useful than we think.
The Holy Spirit can and will speak to our hearts through any situation or memory. He’ll do it even with video game codes and movies that don’t line up with biblical theology:)
This is the question I walked away with from that experience, “Am I living out my life’s mission aggressively enough?” I’m not talking about living life recklessly. There is a HUGE difference between three of the lifestyles we all get to choose from: reckless, audacious, and cautious.
- Reckless living is unnecessarily dangerous. It’s plunging myself over the edge of my limitations and needlessly into harms way. Or in other words it’s “stupid.”
- Audacious living is about intentionally getting to the end of myself to the point where I regularly need God’s help to fulfill my mission. In other words it’s “stretching.”
- Cautious living is about passively holding back all that I am and have just in case I make a mistake or it’s not enough to get the job done. In other words it’s “safe.”
If most of us were honest with ourselves, we’d probably end up much closer on the aggression spectrum to “cautious” than “audacious.”
Don’t get me wrong some forms of caution are extremely wise.
- Setting boundaries for your new teenage driver.
- Limiting the amount of “screen time” your young children get.
- Conversational places you will and won’t visit with members of the opposite sex.
- Not “betting the whole farm” on a risky financial investment.
All of those are examples of wise “cautions” but….“Far too often fear masquerades itself as wise caution.” -Bill Johnson
So here’s one question that has recently helped me and I hope adds some value to your life as well. “Am I pursuing the mission God has given me cautiously, recklessly or audaciously?”
No one really wants to get to the end of their life and say that they played it safe.
No one really wants to needlessly cut their life short or fail in their calling because of living recklessly stupid.
Friends, this life is not a dress rehearsal!
None of us get 30 or an unlimited number of lives to carry out our God ordained assignments. I'm setting my heart in a fresh way to live more audaciously.
What is one way you can stretch yourself this week to move the needle closer towards audacious living?
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