I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of a little movie that came out
earlier this year in theatres and on DVD a few weeks ago.
Y’know, the one with Robert Downey Jr. about a guy who puts on armor
and fights bad guys as a superhero? If you still don’t know
what I’m talking about, the movie is “Iron Man,” and you need to
go to your local video store and check it out… today. If
you’ve seen this movie you probably know that everyone loved it, and
it was the #2 biggest money-maker of the year. Personally, I
loved the movie, and not just because I love superhero movies.
If you really read between the lines and take a look at what the movie
was really about – and I’m not talking about the cool special
effects or even fighting the bad guys- it’s about wearing
“armor.” In the beginning of the movie, Robert Downey
Jr.’s character, Tony Stark, is a self-centered jerk who cares about
no one but himself. He’s a self-made billionaire who owns
everything he wants, parties, drinks, and treats people like dirt.
But when he gets captured by terrorists in Afghanistan and his heart
is badly injured, he then sees someone close to him make a noble
sacrifice, and his life-changes. He literally, and
metaphorically, has a “change of heart.” He builds a device
for himself to keep his heart alive, and also builds armor for himself
to be a hero. Tony Stark put on armor because he wanted to be a
new person, a better person, and do what was right. So my
question is this- do you wear armor?
If you ask me, I think we all wear armor. Hasn’t there been
something in our life that has hurt us, injured us, or maybe made us
feel like we weren’t good enough? Isn’t there something that
we wear on the outside that reflects a pain on the inside? We
might try to hide it with the coolest new clothes, a nice pair of
shoes, a new scent- maybe a piercing, a tattoo? Sometimes we
feel like we have to wear something that everyone else is wearing, or
do something that everyone else is doing, even if it’s something
we’re not comfortable with, or is just not us. We’re afraid
of showing everyone who we really are, or what’s really going on in
our hearts. It’s during these situations that I would like to
offer you something to remember- you are special, you have been made
in the image and likeness of God, and you don’t have to ever be
embarrassed about what’s going on inside. God didn’t create
us so we could try to be someone we’re not. He created us so
we could be true to our identity. That’s why sometimes we
receive crosses that are engraved with our name on them when we are
baptized- because we are special and “precious in the eyes of the
Lord” (Psalm 116:15). When Jesus was praying to the Father the
night before His death, He prayed and asked, “Righteous Father, the
world does not know you, but I know you; and these (people) know that
you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will
make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in
them, and I in them.” (John 17:25-26) We have been made in
God’s image and likeness, and because we are Christians, Christ
lives in each one of us. Even if you feel you need to be someone
else, or do something you don’t want to, you don’t have to,
because Christ is in each of you. We don’t have to wear any
kind of “armor” to hide what’s inside. What we do on the
outside should be true to our Christian identity on the inside.
So like our friend Tony, let’s look into our hearts, and do the
right thing.
