Your Spiritual Journey
Unintentional Villian
In 2021 Disney released a movie called Encanto. It is about a family in Colombia that was given a miraculous gift. They were given a magical house and special powers that they would use to help those around them.
One thing that stands out in this movie is the nature of the villain. The villain in the movie is not some outside force who wants the family’s gift. There is no evil witch or terrifying monster that comes to threaten the family. The bad guy in the movie is the grandmother. She was trying to push her family to use their miraculous gifts to help those around them. But she pushed everyone too far because she lost sight of what was truly important: her family.
We all have goals that we are working towards. And it is wise and it is good to pursue our goals. But even when we are pursuing the most noble of goals, we need to set time aside to step back and evaluate our actions. We all struggle with sin, and we don’t want to ignore the problem and let it grow out of control. I might be working really hard to raise money to help the homeless, but am I neglecting those around me in the process?
This is a struggle that everyone faces, even the apostle Paul.
“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”
“For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” Romans 7:15; 19
Paul was giving his life to sharing the Gospel with the world, and he struggled with sin too. This is why it’s so important for us to take time to evaluate our actions. Even when we are trying to do good things it is easy to fall back into a practice of sin.
Here is a question that we can ask ourselves everyday amidst the busyness and work that we have to do: What is one thing I can do to help someone around me today?
Sean
