God Believes in You

I like movies. Old ones. New ones. Happy and blue ones. There are some lines in movies that stick with you whether you want them to or not.

– “There’s no place like home.”
– “A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
– “You want me on that wall!”
– “Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the presence of justice.”
– “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!”
– “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.”
– “Go ahead. Make my day.”
– “May the force be with you.”

There is a movie called The Count of Monte Cristo. It is based on a book by Alexandre Dumas. The story goes that all the Count has in life is taken from him—his wife, his child, his estate is burned and his reputation is ruined. He is unjustly thrown in prison in solitary confinement for years. Unknown to him, a priest in one of the cells is digging a tunnel—also for years. He thinks he is digging toward the outside, but ends up digging into the Count’s cell. They manage to strike up a friendship without the awareness of the guards. The priest becomes the Count’s teacher and together they devise a plan of escape. The priest’s final instruction to the Count goes like this:

God believes in you. When I heard the priest’s theology, I had an “Aha!” moment, or maybe it was more like “Duh!” Of course God believes in me. God believes in you. Where do we think the whole notion of faith comes from, if not from God? God believes in you enough to create you, to nourish you, to rescue you, to hand over the work of the Kingdom to you and to me. There is something about this truth that scribbles hope into my day. And, well, if God believes in you, I can decide to believe in you too.