Beastly Green Eyed Monster

Brad and I were watching a recent episode of Project Runway and saw a classic Bible story being reenacted, though I doubt the two participants knew it. It's a classic case of jealously. One contestant - Amanda - in this fashion design show has repeatedly been successful with her creations and has been rewarded as such. And another - Korina - has repeatedly be unsuccessful and thus oftentimes found at the bottom of the scoring. So one morning the unsuccessful contestant decided to tell the successful one that she found her to be phony. The criticism did the trick. The successful contestant could think of nothing else except the cruel comment made by her competitor. I paused the show and turned to talk to Brad.

"This is a classic case of Cain vs. Able, " I told him. "Able's offering is good. Cain's was not, so Cain decided to take out the competition."

When Cain's face was downcast after his offering was not acceptable to the Lord, God said to him in Gen. 4:7, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” 

In other words, "Keep at it! Focus on what you can do well and do it! Don't be worried about what others do. Just do your best for Me."

Instead Cain opened the door to that sin and killed his younger brother.

I have seen this story unfold in many different ways of late. Friends and relatives have shared stories recently where they were verbally attacked by someone for no apparent reason, by people they loved and trusted. I, myself, have had the same experience a couple times. And it's the same story over and over again. The root of the cause is jealously. 

Jealousy is a beast. Shakespeare called it a "green-ey'd monster" in Othello. It causes people to do a lot of weird things. When those people are Christians, the behavior is puzzling and frustrating. When they are not Christians, while it is easier to understand, it is not easy to dismiss.

So what is our recourse to such behavior? Stand up for and do what is right. Love as Christ commanded. Forgive 70x7. Press on in the fullness God has given us. And know that the Lord will fight for us.

To those feeling the jealousy, before you say or do something hurtful, ask why you are feeling as you do. Did this person truly hurt you? Did they do something wrong? Or are they doing something well that you feel you can't compete with? Here's the point ... you aren't competing. God created all in His image with amazing gifts and talents. Some are better at some things than others. But those same folks are not good at things others are better at. It makes us a really great symbiotic world of folks working together for good. Instead of focusing on what someone is doing better or more efficiently than you, ask what you're doing wholeheartedly for the Lord to the tune of "well done good and faithful servant."

In this episode of Project Runway, these two contestants were thrown together for a team challenge. Working together they did as expected - dead center of the scoring. The successful contestant made her competitor a better challenger. She even helped her finish her project. It was class-act behavior at its best. It is my hope a lesson has been learned.

It is also my hope that instead of cutting our brother or sister in Christ down, that we will instead rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15), edify each other, correct each other in love and continue to serve to the fullest and best of our abilities. My goodness, we could accomplish so much more for His glory. And isn't that what it's all about?

Noah: Fiction is Stranger Than Truth

The truth is stranger than fiction, it's said. However, I just watched the movie Noah last night, and after that, I'm going with "fiction is stranger than the truth." I had heard mixed reviews about the movie, so I waited until it came out on DVD before watching it. I also heard it was off the Biblical target in a huge way and to just enjoy it as a special effects-filled movie adventure. So I went into it with that attitude. It didn't help. At one point I found the plot so ridiculous, that I walked away to fold laundry.

The story of Noah is fascinating. Moses tells in Genesis about the story of the flood, a tale found in many cultures throughout the millennia. Noah is described in Scripture as "finding favor with God," "righteous" and "blameless" in his generation. Everyone else is described this way: "Every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually." Yikes, that's a lot of evil. So God decides to wipe out every living thing on the earth, except for Noah's family - Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives - and two of every animal on earth, except for clean animals of which there were seven pair (one of my favorite trivia questions). It takes Noah 100 years to build an ark (think long floating, waterproof box) to house everyone for the more than a year they were on there. It had three decks, and its dimensions were similar in proportion to dimensions of our great ocean liners today. You can read about Noah's story in Genesis 6-9, from the material he used (gopher wood - unknown today) to the rainbow found at the end of the story that came with God's promise to never destroy all flesh again by flood (which by the way still leaves a bunch of other options).

It's a wild story, but Darren Aronofsky's was wilder. [Spoiler alert - if you haven't seen the movie and want to, plot revelations ahead] Rock giants that were fallen angels; a nasty stowaway on the ark; Noah abandoning an innocent girl to be trampled to death; no wives for two of Noah's son's who were already over 100 years old at the time of the flood; Noah wanting to kill his granddaughters; putting all the animals to sleep during floating time; both Shem and Ham wanting to kill their dad; an adopted daughter; Noah's dad Lamech getting murdered (he actually died in the year of the flood if not in it, along with Noah's granddad, Methuselah, the oldest man who ever lived); and on and on it goes. So when I say fiction is stranger than truth, in this case, it truly is.

I am not sure why Hollywood insists on altering stories in Scripture for what they may deem is drama or advancing the plot, but the stories in the Bible are so amazing, it seems like needless change and enhancement to me. 

A friend commented to me yesterday when I told her I was going to watch the movie that she hoped it inspired people to go to their Bibles to read the actual story of Noah. I agree with her, that is my hope, too.Otherwise the movie is a huge waste of anyone's time.

Noah is not a story of a vengeful God wanting to wipe out the children He created, but rather a merciful God, patient enough to give us all a second chance. I have to say, there is one thing that movie reinforced for me, and that is the notion that our all loving God is also almighty, holy and just. It embarrassed me to think about how pathetic we are as humans to contend with the Creator, dismiss Him and disobey Him. Who do we think we are?

So as for the movie Noah: the special effects are cool. That's about the only redeeming factor. I feel like I wasted my time. I've read the story in Scripture many times and never felt that way. It's another case of "Read the book. It's better." Fabulously so.

Makes me wonder what Hollywood will do with Exodus: Gods and Kings coming out Dec. 12. If "Gods" is any indication, I may skip it altogether.