I have a confession. Please don’t hate me. I know this will be a terrible shock to some of you, but I recently took my wife on a date to see “World War Z.” Yes, that’s the new Brad Pitt movie about a war fought against billions of humans who get infected with a virus, die and then come back as zombies.
I loved it. My wife . . . not so much. Silly woman.
Of course, the plot is about as deep as an amoeba. The acting, even for Brad Pitt, not top shelf, and I hated the ending (no worries, I won’t give it away here). That being said, there are a few things I walked away thinking about.
Forgive me in advance for spiritualizing something so stupid. Maybe this is a weak attempt to redeem something (anything) from a lost 116 minutes of my life. But I did find some nuggets of truth hidden in this apocalyptic horror film.
The first lesson: Just one bite of this world kills.
It was very apparent in the movie that getting bit by a zombie is bad. Really bad. In fact, within just seconds you die and then get transformed into a ugly grunting monster. Zombies are not heroes. Death by zombie is to be avoided at all cost. Zombies suck.
It strikes me, however, how careless so many in our world are about messing with things that bring death. Stuff like rebellion, immorality, hatred, divisiveness and idolatry (in all its various forms). One bite of these sins can rob us of the life we were meant to live.
Perhaps it’s time to take to heart the apostle Paul’s admonition found in 2 Timothy 2:22 (NIV), “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” In other words, don’t dawdle, but flee because just one bite can ruin everything.
The second lesson: Deal ruthlessly with evil.
At one point in the movie, a young Israeli woman got bitten on the forearm. Suddenly, and without any warning, Brad grabbed a machete and cut her arm off. The Israeli screamed, my wife began to sob, and I stopped breathing (all terribly embarrassing). It was gross and violent, but it also saved her life.
The problem with sin is we think we can coax it out of our life and heart. We tend to treat sin like a cute little kitten that might scratch us but won’t really hurt us. We want to slap a Band-Aid on our sins when, in truth, we must be ruthless. Sin is not a harmless scratch; it is a deadly sting that will destroy us.
Never be ruthless with people. Never be merciless and brutal with others. But don’t fool around with sin. It takes radical action to free us from an infection that will kill us.
The final lesson: Only death can defeat death.
If you saw the movie, you know what I’m talking about. Again, I won’t give anything away here, but this is the greatest truth seen in this crazy movie: Somebody has to die to defeat death. In fact, ultimately, we all have to die to overcome it. That one was worth the price of admission.
One of the great truths found in the Bible is that we are all the walking-dead because of our sins. However, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are given new life. What we could never do or defeat on our own, Jesus did on our behalf. Only death can defeat death, and His death brought us the gift of eternal life.
Maybe you’ve read these words found in the book of Romans:
“Jesus was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? (Zombieism!) Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 4:25; 6:4; 7:24-25 (NLT)
Zombies aren’t for real, but death is within us, and the walking-dead are all around us. Thank God for His antidote to sin and death — the death and life of his son.
