When I'm home, sick, if I'm not sleeping, I'm listlessly lounging in front of the TV bemoaning my sickened state in life. With a plethora of TV Channels to choose from, you'd think there'd be something worth watching. Honestly, like Solomon wisely asserted in Ecclesiastes 1:9, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Essentially, a Biblical T-shirt slogan, "been there, done that." Most garbage on TV (and the film industry, for that matter) is a rehash of someone else's garbage set to current music, splashy wardrobe changes and not so subtle product placement.
Then I came across the Lifetime Movie, "To Be Fat Like Me." The movie is about a high school girl who misses out on her sports scholarship for college due to a leg injury. She really needed that scholarship, so an opportunity arises to participate in a documentary film contest. She teams up with another and dons a fat suit to document people's reactions to her as a fat person.
What drew me to this movie was trying to recognize the lead actress. By the time I figured out she was the same actress who plays the street-smart next door neighbor in The Big Bang Theory, I was hooked on the film.
Today's PW Devotional made me think about that movie.
With the fatsuit on, this normally pretty, physically fit girl, became invisible to most of the kids. She was mocked (called names), ignored, physically pushed aside and ostracized (to exclude or banish from a particular group, society, etc.). She was finally befriended by a slim, smart guy and an overweight girl. Two other outcasts welcomed her into their domain. Because she is not used to being ignored and "labeled," she speaks out and fights back when mistreated or overlooked. Time and time again, she comes to the defense of her new overweight friend.
The fatsuited girl comes to realize she had been just like these people who were now ignoring her. And, for her, this realization changes her.
People matter to God. All shapes, sizes, colors and creeds. Followers of Jesus treat people like Jesus did. Read on to see what King David had to say about this.
| The Code: Used People Posted: 15 Aug 2010 01:00 AM PDT ". . . who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken." (Psalm 15:5) The last item on David's list of character qualities for an unshakable life is this: Don't use people for your own advantage. Innocent people. Broke people. Desperate people. They're not meant to be chess pieces on the game boards of our lives to be manipulated to get ourselves ahead.
I know. Who does that except for rich oil barons and corporate execs and bad movie villains? Well, honestly, we all do it a little, don't we? You might not make high-interest loans to people who can't get money at a fair price. (That's what usury is.) And you might not take a bribe from a corrupt business person to allow needy people to be mistreated. That's true.
But I've seen lots of people make friends with someone hungry for a friend -- just to get something from them. I've seen socially desperate people used and mocked and ignored and avoided because they might bring another person's status down a notch. That goes against the code. That's lousy character.
Think: What are other ways you've seen desperate people get used or mistreated in everyday life?
Pray: Ask God to help you be a defender of people who are easy to take advantage of.
Do: Think of one lonely or broke or desperate person you could help out with today.  |
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Mary E.Hickcox
www.CalvaryBaptistSM.orghttp://mary-neotes.blogspot.com/
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