The Lion King is one of our all-time favorite movies. In fact, it comes in at number 4 on my list of best movies ever made. It's that good. And if you've seen it, you're sure to agree that there are a ton of life lessons to be learned (not to mention tons of tears to be shed when Mufasa dies). If you haven't seen it you need to stop what you are doing immediately and go watch it on YouTube or find one of your many friends that has seen and owns this movie and borrow it from them. Or just go ahead and buy the thing. Seriously, you don't know when you might be called from this earth. It could be any moment and you certainly do not want to roll a 7 and die without having seen The Lion King.
We were talking recently at a youth gathering about how many of us live in denial and the above scene from The Lion King popped up in the ol' noggin' (there are many life lessons to be learned from the movie after all, remember?). So we were talking about how many of us live in denial and that we may be in denial over many different things, perhaps something we did in our past or something that was done to us or even something we are doing now. One of the first things Simba says in this clip is "you can't change the past". If you will recall, earlier in the movie Simba is framed by his conniving uncle Scar for Mufasa's death. Scar told Simba that the only thing he could do was to run away from his home and never come back, which Simba did. For years Simba has considered himself responsible for the death of his father and has been carrying around this immense guilt. His childhood friend Nala has just found him and confronted him for not returning home and taking his rightful place as king from his tyrannical uncle Scar.
We can take so many things from the above scene. Simba has been running from his past for so long that he has completely forgotten who he is. We talked at the youth gathering about how denial exhausts us and makes us live a life God never intended for us. I love what Mufasa says to Simba when he appears to him: "You have forgotten me. You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself Simba. You are more than what you have become. Remember who you are. You are my son and the one true king. Remember who you are..."
Wow. That had to be a smack in the face. I mean wouldn't it be enough to have to carry around the belief that you had killed your own father? But then for him to come to you and tell you that you had totally forgotten him? Man, that would be heavy. But think about it. Don't you and I do the same thing with God? I love how Mufasa tells Simba that he is more than he has become. Man, I wonder how many of us fit in that category with Simba? I wonder how many of us God is trying to tell that we are more than we have become? Think about it. Simba was created to be the King of Pride Rock. He was created to be royalty but instead he ends up out in the middle of the jungle, away from his family and home eating bugs for food. And you know what the crazy part about denial is? Simba had settled for a life he was never meant to live but in his own mind it was the best he could ask for. He thought he was having the time of his life. And it's the same with us. We can run from our pain and the cause of it into a life that God never meant for us to live just like Simba did. Or, we can face our past and our pain and hurt and move forward into the freedom and truth God intends for us to live in.
God created us to live in freedom and truth.
Psalm 25:7 - Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good. (NIV)
Romans 5:1-2 - By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. (The Message)
I was much like Simba for the longest time. I lived with the guilt of my sins and had forgotten that God created me to be a king, that through the death of his Son on the cross I was no longer a sinner but a saint. I lived in denial that I did not have to work off my forgiveness. Sure, I would have told you that God had completely forgiven me and cited the right verses but my actions would have proven otherwise. It wasn't until I had gone for so many days without committing a 'bad' sin and had read the Bible for at least five days and hadn't forgotten to pray at least 3 times a day that I would start to feel like God had forgiven me. To me, I had become "Nathan the Sinner" and that was my identity. And man, that's the definition of legalism. But God has been showing me more and more what it looks like to live in his truth and freedom. Because the truth is that God sees more in us than what we have become. He doesn't see our sins and rebellious ways but because of his mercy and goodness he sees us. Just like Mufasa sees the true king in Simba that he is instead of the runaway Simba has become, God sees the king or queen in us that He created us to be and not whatever else we think we have become.
And that's the beauty of God's love. We don't have to win it. We don't have to find it. We don't have to work for it. We don't have to do good things for it. We don't have to not do bad things for it. We don't have to read our Bibles and memorize verses to get it. We don't have to go to church every Sunday to gain it. We don't have to deserve it because we throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us and we find ourselves standing in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory. Wow.
Sure the past hurts. Maybe you've hurt yourself through decisions you've made or maybe someone else has hurt you. But just like Rafiki said, you can either run from it or learn from it. Even though Simba ran from it for years and became a slave to his guilt he was always a king. The truth is that if we have been justified by faith through Jesus Christ, we never actually became anything else. Our identity is secure in Christ. We are free to run through the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory.
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