A Good Movie and Glimmers of The Gospel

I'd like to recommend a movie.  Now I realize this can be dangerous since many movies, PG and PG-13, have some profanity, however, there is nothing particularly over the top in this movie.

The movie I'm speaking of is "Taken", starring Liam Nieson.  He plays the father of a 17-year-old girl who must have his permission to go on vacation in Paris.  She lies to him, telling him she is just going to be 'visiting museum's and stuff', and that her and her cousin will be staying with adults.  However, she knows that museums are not on the schedule.  They are actually going to following U-2 on their European tour.

Her father reluctantly grants his permission, even though he discovers that she has lied to him.  Then ironically, upon arrival in Paris, the daughter discovers that her cousin has lied to her, for the adults they were supposed to stay with are actually on vacation.  The liar has been lied too!  (Oh yes, this is one you should watch with your teenager.)

Things go bad quickly.  Both teenage girls are abducted by a group of Albanians who sell girls into prostitution.  Get ready for your outrage to build as you realize that this sort of thing is actually taking place in the world, (just Google; "Human Trafficking" or "Teen Prostitution").

The father goes to every extreme to rescue his daughter and ultimately succeeds.  At the end of the movie there is moving scene where the daughter is rescued by her father, and she clings to him, weeping, saying, "You came for me."  It's a moving scene.  You see, up until this point the daughter has kept her father at a distance, only reaching out to him when she needed something.  However, the rescue changes her.  She now clings to him.

Isn't this a picture of the amazing grace of God?  We keep Him at a distance, only acknowledging Him when we need something.  But when we are made to see just how enslaved we really are to sin, and that we cannot rescue ourselves; when the greatness of the Gospel of Christ finally gets through too us, we are changed.  Christ's extreme rescue wins our heart and we receive Him.  We cling to Him.  And we say, "You came for me."

Now watch the movie, and look for glimmers of the Gospel.

Pastor Van