Monday, February 21, 2011

Jolted back to remembrance

***CAUTION: This has some references to the movie Unknown, starring Liam Neeson. If you haven't seen that yet and plan to do so, don't read this as it reveals some key plot elements. For the rest of you, I rehash key points in the story line to refresh your memory and to set up the ultimate purpose of what I'm writing.***

In this movie, Liam Neeson stars as Martin Harris, a man on vacation with his wife in Berlin. At the hotel, he realizes one of their bags is missing, so he takes a cab back to find it. The cab crashes through a guard rail and into a body of water. Martin ends up in a coma for a few days. As soon as he's able he frantically tries to find his wife, as he's quite obviously concerned about her. But soon his identity is questioned. He keeps telling his doubters he's Martin Harris, on vacation in Berlin with his wife. When he finally finds his wife, even she says she doesn't know him. Then, it gets worse as people threaten his life. He manages to narrowly escape with the help of the woman who was driving the cab that crashed, and who had rescued him from the accident. He is then kidnapped by somebody whom he remembers as a colleague, but who is actually the man who helped train him to be a professional assassin, along with a female accomplice (his "wife"). The real reason they are in Berlin is because they are on a mission to kill somebody.

It seems the injury from the cab accident led him to be confused about who he really was, and because he was seen as a detriment to the mission, he needed to be killed. Just in time, he remembers his skills as an assassin and manages to kill another trained assassin who was trying to kill him (and who took his place as the pretend husband when Martin forgot his true identity).

In many ways, some (perhaps a lot) of Christians are like Martin Harris. Most of us, at some point or another after we accept Christ into our lives, will falter. We start off full of joy and hope and love and reverence for God, but something pushes us over the edge (whether a big jolt or a series of smaller ones), and we start believing we are what certain people tell us we are, rather than what God has made us for. (Of course, the analogy breaks down in that Liam Neeson's character excelled at being an assassin, while we have the potential for abounding excellence in Christ). We need to be reminded regularly of our true identity.

After watching the movie, my wife and I discussed whether we as viewers, and whether Liam Neeson's character, could have known before the big "reveal" who he really was. We remembered that there were several small hints along the way that, if one really paid attention, would show that the movie's ending made sense. Likewise, though some of us believers in Christ might have strayed from God and forgotten who we really are in Him, there are several "hints" that, if we pay attention, we'll remember our true identity. Those hints can be found in such things as the Bible, in viewing the awe and beauty of the world and universe around us, in knowing about people whose lives have been saturated with Christ, and in our own quiet times with the Lord. May we whom Christ calls His own remember who we really are before our chance to impact the world for His glory and mankind's benefit is forever gone.

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