A Tale of Two Films

I watched two films yesterday.

Both left me speechless.

One left me in tears of despair for how far our country has fallen, and the other left me in tears of awe and inspiration at the triumph of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity.

One was a film of one of our presidential candidates.

The other was a film about the courage of two women and a man in the Katwe slum of Kampala, Uganda. 

Both are true stories.

One degrades and objectifies women. The other demonstrates that dignity and dreams can prevail.

One is about keeping the status quo that empowers some and leaves others subjugated. The other is about empowering everyone and bringing about change that lifts and honors even the poorest, smallest, and most invisible among us.

Here’s the thing…We can and we should decry the morals, language, and values modeled by Donald Trump but we can and should do more.

Could I suggest we make a commitment to:

• Examine our own hearts for hypocrisy and repent.

• Examine our own lives for language that is crass, crude, demeaning, or just not God-honoring and stop it. Period. 

• Examine the way we are raising our sons and daughters and ask:
  • Are we raising godly men who will treat women with the honor and respect they deserve?
  • Are we raising godly daughters who are aware of their inherent worth apart from their looks?
  • Are we raising children who will say “No! This is wrong!” and instead aspire to all that is good, pure, honorable, and integrous*

• Examine the stories we gravitate to that fill our minds. Are we going low or going high?

*Mt. 23:25, Colossians 4:6, Deuteronomy 6:6-8, Philippians 4:8