Pretty sure IT is one of the scariest movies ever. The movie IT, by Steven KIng, is about a demonic clown who terrorizes a group of kids. Just watching the previews is enough to give me nightmares. And to be honest, that’s the only part of the movie I have ever watched; the previews. I had to google the plot and was surprised that the point of the movie was not just to cause even adults to sleep with the lights on and do a quick check under their bed before hitting the pillow at night.
The IT is actually a physical representation of their individual worst fears. IT stalks and even kills a few of the kids throughout the movie.
If you have been reading my posts for any length of time, you have probably realized that there are a few “plagues of the heart” that I revisit regularly. The chronic diseases of the soul—worry, fear, jealousy, resentment, image management, control—seem to haunt me. I think it would be safe to define them each as an “IT”. In the same way, the ITs in our life seek to steal, kill, and destroy us.
But God….but God has a different plan.
If you take nothing else away from what I write, please, please, please remember that regardless of the what haunts you, YOU are not IT.
You are not defined by your character defects or your fears or your past mistakes. IT may rear it’s ugly head now and then, but IT is not who you are. Don’t let IT do what IT did in the movie; drag you down into the sewer and terrorize or kill you.
I love how Cory Asbury puts it in a song that has been rolling around in my head for the past few weeks: “Failure won’t define me, because that’s what my Father does.” Feel free to substitute “failure” with whatever shortcoming or sin you battle. If you are anything like me, you might have a fairly steady rotation of behaviors or attitudes that you could use to fill in that blank.
But God…but God has a different plan.
God wants to redeem IT. In this life, we may or may not be 100% free from IT, but we can surrender IT and invite God into IT, trusting that He can work all things out for our good (and the good of others) if we let Him (Romans 8:28).
Stay tuned for the next post where we redefine the IT as the Source of all power, unconditional love, and grace.
And YOU are not IT either.
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