purple devils and the blood of Jesus

Tonight I watched a movie at the theater with my kids.
What I thought would be an hour and a half of just fun,
mindless entertainment turned into an interesting reminder
of a great reality for every human being.

In this movie, these fun-loving, innocent little creatures are
kidnapped and taken to this paradise-like place where they
are later injected with a serum that changes them into
these little purple monsters. Their purpose: to be used by an
evil villain who wants to take over the world and wreak as
much havoc as possible doing it.  Sound familiar?

Early in the movie, we see a mad scientist character fail
big time at creating a jelly that would help his friend make
some money and turn it into a business.  Everyone who
tries the jelly is absolutely disgusted by it.

Back to the purple devils.  The only way these creatures can be
'saved' is if they're injected with another kind of serum, an antidote.
This antidote, of course, turns them back into what they originally
were, serving their real master, who's a pretty decent guy.

Now the Bible lesson. And this happens quite frequently for me.
Most of the time I'm not looking for "spiritual applications", but
God uses my love of film to teach me or remind me of some cool
things sometimes. I can always use a little reminding.

We were originally created perfect, meant to stay perfect.
In perfect harmony and relationship with God.

We were created to bring God pleasure.  To know Him, and to
love Him, and to serve Him.  Not robotic like, but of our own
free will, and fulfilling a great and glorious and eternal purpose.

Enter sin.  And with it, our capacity for great evil.  Obviously,
we look back at history, and look around us today, and look
even within our own hearts, and no one would argue with that.

But also enter: the blood of Jesus Christ.  The antidote to sin.
Jesus shed His perfect, innocent blood on a wooden cross
two thousand years ago.  It has the power to change a sinner
damed to hell and at enmity with God into a saint, holy and
perfect in God's sight.

All we have to do is take it in.  Accept the blood of Jesus.
By faith.  Believing that it does, in fact, wash away our sin
and believe that it does, in fact, make us right with God.
Accepting Jesus as our Savior is injecting the antidote into
our soul.  We come back to life, so to speak, and become
who we were meant to be.  A child of God, playing a vital
and unique role in His great story.

Back to the mad scientist and his disgusting jelly.

If we give it to Him, God can take our failures, small or great,
and turn them into something good. Something very good.
Something that could save others.  Countless lives have been
saved, and souls entered heaven, because people with broken
and painful and dark pasts testified to the truth of Jesus, that
He's real and that He saves. God takes what no one else would
want any part of and turns it around for good.

Only God could do that.  Only God can give us beauty
in exchange for our ashes.

Now go watch the movie.  It's Gru-vy.

-----
"..For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased." Revelation 4:11

"For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard." Romans 3:23

"The thief's (Satan's) purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." John 10:10

"But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil." 1 John 3:8

"But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin...if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." 1 John 1:7, 9

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people." Genesis 50:20

"To all who mourn in Israel,  he will give a crown of beauty for ashes..." Isaiah 61:3

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28