Men make movies to entertain, and sometimes to lift the spirit of their viewers. Many times they strive to tell a story righting some wrong visited upon someone, and many times they attempt to do so using true stories. It is not my purpose to recommend movies, and this could have been any one of a number, but I recently viewed such an upbeat movie: An American Rhapsody. It is about a young child necessarily left behind by her parents as they fled Hungary to America in the 1950's. It was a movie trying to reflect the happiness of the reunion with lost loved ones.

In the story, the people who cared for the young girl left in Hungary were devastated when the child left, after years of them caring for her as their own. The child was devastated for some time as well. Finally, the reunion was successful and they overcame the obstacles as best the writer was able to make sense of it all. In the movie, the writer quotes one of the characters as saying: "We are who we are because of our past." That is in large measure true; We are made strong, or we are broken, by what happens to us. There is one glaring difference providing opportunity however: The Bible. We can use Bible knowledge and it's power to become who we want to become, no matter what this system may have heaped upon us. It sets apart those who are trained by it, from those who are molded by their environment. It lets us see behind the curtain to reveal the real life, so we can choose to be molded by truth.

Whenever man tries to solve the problems we all encounter, even in a movie, there is always collateral damage and/or problems left unsolved. Innocent ones suffer somewhere, or there are problems beyond their reach; Such as when a loved one dies or gets an incurable disease. In the old system we live in today, old age is constantly chipping away at us starting the day of our birth. There is no exemption from the war!

That is the beauty of the "truth" of the Bible you see. God has set in motion his purpose to provide happiness to all with no collateral damage to any. He has the power even to restore our youth, or to keep us from loosing it. He has the power to bring dead loved ones back. He has the power and desire to give us happiness forever. When it is all said and done that is what we all seek isn't it, Happiness? The question we all face: Will we really accept the Bible truth that our happiness is tied directly to our Creator? Since he designed and built us, He knows what will make us happy. There is happiness in obedience to our Creator, so it would follow there is unhappiness in disobedience. (Psalms_41:1-2 ; Romans_4:6)

The next time you consider a movie seeking to be up-built, give consideration to reading the Bible. The many stories about David, Sampson, Abraham, Jonah, Rahab, Ester, Daniel, and of course Christ Jesus and many others, are up-building beyond measure. They help us come to know our Father better. These people are God's friends, and we will have the opportunity to get to know them personally through the resurrection. We can actually get to know them right now though, by reading what our Father had recorded about them. As we read about those he loves, we come to better understand him by seeing why he loved them. His solution to our problems is perfect, solving all problems and leaving no collateral damage. That is the real truth, not what appears all around us from day to day. By taking advantage of Bible knowledge, we can choose which will define us: The truth recorded by the Bible, or the temporary world that appears to the eye from day to day. (Psalm 37:27-29)

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