I don’t know about you, but I so often have to remind myself that I need Jesus. I need the Gospel of Jesus that tells me I am in favor with my God. I have the full righteousness of Christ. I can stand before Him with confidence and assurance that I am his child and He is my Father and He is pleased with me because of what Jesus has done. I like to think that maybe one day I won’t have to remind myself of who I am as much because I would be getting a little better at living a Godly life and ultimately hoping that God would be a little more pleased with me. But I know that is yet another clever deception that I buy in to because, well, I like feeling that I deserve my salvation to some degree. Don’t you?

I recently watched the movie “Blood Diamond” which is about the diamond trade and all of the injustice that so often goes unnoticed or ignored due to greed and ignorance. The movie is quite good all around, but there is one particular scene that really hit me. A man named Solomon is taken captive by the local rebel insurgence to mine for diamonds. He is separated from his wife, a new baby, a young daughter, and ten year old boy, Dia. The same rebel insurgence later captures Dia and begins training him as a child soldier, which is heart wrenching to watch realizing that this actually happens to some unfortunate children. Over a short period of time the boys are introduced to drugs, alcohol, sex, and guns and trained to be merciless killers. Solomon finds out his boy has been captured and begins to search for him. After many false leads, Solomon finds Dia at the rebel camp and rescues him. Although it could only have been several weeks since Dia was captured, he did not recognize his own father. Dia is not himself, he is brainwashed or more likely in some sort of drug or alcohol induced daze. Nonetheless, Solomon brings Dia along on his journey thrilled to have his son back but devastated by the condition he is in and not knowing what damage has been done. At one crucial moment, when the angry rebels are on the trail of Solomon, Dia, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s character (I forget his name, hmmm…) Solomon looks up to find a gun pointing at him held by none other than Dia. At that moment Dia begins to act according to his recent training, which is to kill. In a moment of divine wisdom, Solomon with fear and confidence begins to speak to Dia. He reminds Dia who he is, “You are my son, you are a good boy, you love school, you love your young sister and new baby brother, you have a dog that will only mind you, you are good at soccer… “ And so on. Dia didn’t believe Solomon and you could see the battle going on in his mind of wanting to believe but not sure what was true because of all he had done. Then Solomon confirms and assures Dia of his love for him by saying, “ It doesn’t matter what bad things you have done or were made to do, you are my son Dia and I love you.” Dia wants to believe what he is hearing and the fog of confusion and disbelief in his mind starts to clear. With tears rolling down his face, Dia gives the gun to his father, steps toward his fathers open arms and they embrace. I am sure that I have misquoted the dialogue to some degree, but you get the idea.
What an incredible picture of the Gospel. How many times do I get captured and brainwashed by sin and need to be reminded of who I am. Or Sometimes even when I am told who I am I don’t believe it, as Dia. Thank the Lord for his continual mercy and grace and his relentless pursuit of His children.