Lost! March 29, 2007
Olivia and I watch Lost. Last night's episode was particularly disturbing to me. In fact, it kept me up until about 2AM, and my poor, wonderful wife worried and prayed over me because of it. If you haven't seen it, and want to, wait to read this until afterwards.
I was disturbed, because the episode ends with two people being mistakenly burried alive. This was my one real fear as a child, stemming from a bad movie choice on the part of one of my baby-sitters. And, at first, this was why I was disturbed. But, as I thought about the episode into the night I realized that the antagonist got what she deserved. She was a murderer, a thief, a liar, and a slut. She callously planned on using a spider to paralyze her boyfriend so she could do "all sorts" of cruel things to him to punish him for steeling from her. Why would I be troubled by her being burried alive?
As I read Revelation this morning, I realized why I pitied her. I wasn't really afraid of being burried alive myself, there was something else. There was one moment, one look, right before she was bitten herself, when her boyfriend was still going under and explained that he'd hidden the treasure out of fear of loosing her. What was that look? It was remourse. It was uncertainty, self-doubt, and pre-repentance. She realized she'd been wrong, and would have repented (perhaps), but suddenly it was too late.
How many of us live our lives like this, waiting until it's too late to go back? How many of our lost friends will be caught off guard by death or the return of Christ because they did not grab that one moment quickly enough, or because they took too long hedging their bets? The thirty seconds she took to bury the treasure could have made the difference between life and death for this girl, because they people on the beach would not have misunderstood her. We all know lost people (or at least we should). Are we troubled by the reality that they may sooner than we think be eternally lost, condemned to a fate far worse than being burried alive? Do we care that they are LOST?
I was disturbed, because the episode ends with two people being mistakenly burried alive. This was my one real fear as a child, stemming from a bad movie choice on the part of one of my baby-sitters. And, at first, this was why I was disturbed. But, as I thought about the episode into the night I realized that the antagonist got what she deserved. She was a murderer, a thief, a liar, and a slut. She callously planned on using a spider to paralyze her boyfriend so she could do "all sorts" of cruel things to him to punish him for steeling from her. Why would I be troubled by her being burried alive?
As I read Revelation this morning, I realized why I pitied her. I wasn't really afraid of being burried alive myself, there was something else. There was one moment, one look, right before she was bitten herself, when her boyfriend was still going under and explained that he'd hidden the treasure out of fear of loosing her. What was that look? It was remourse. It was uncertainty, self-doubt, and pre-repentance. She realized she'd been wrong, and would have repented (perhaps), but suddenly it was too late.
How many of us live our lives like this, waiting until it's too late to go back? How many of our lost friends will be caught off guard by death or the return of Christ because they did not grab that one moment quickly enough, or because they took too long hedging their bets? The thirty seconds she took to bury the treasure could have made the difference between life and death for this girl, because they people on the beach would not have misunderstood her. We all know lost people (or at least we should). Are we troubled by the reality that they may sooner than we think be eternally lost, condemned to a fate far worse than being burried alive? Do we care that they are LOST?
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