Information vs. Formation
Ben Roberts

Scripture:
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. -Matthew 13:45

Devotional:
How does what you know shape the kind of person you are becoming? In this week’s addition of God Goes to the Movies, we explore the film Good Will Hunting. Will is a brilliant guy who has educated himself through self-directed reading. He grew up in the south of Boston as a foster kid with no access to higher education or opportunities.  He takes a job at MIT as a janitor where he stumbles onto a previously unsolved mathematical formula posted in the hallway for math majors to solve. Will solves the formula in an evening that was optimistically estimated to take an entire semester. But in doing so, Professor Lambeau catches him in the act.  At first Lambeau thinks Will is vandalizing the chalkboard. But over time realizes that the janitor has solved the equation.

When Lambeau realizes that Will is a genius, he takes it upon himself to tutor him. This turns out to be no small task as Will has just been convicted of assault. Lambeau convinces the judge to postpone the verdict to allow him to study, but the judge mandates that Will go into therapy.

After a number of false starts, Will reluctantly agrees to therapy with Sean, a therapist that grew up in Will's rough neighborhood.

Here is where the main conflict of the story plays out. Professor Lambeau’s goal is to give Will the best opportunities that the world can offer, such as prestige, achievement and money. Sean, the therapist, wants more for Will. Sean wants Will to be transformed into a person who can give and receive love.

In the first century, Pharisees, the leading religious leaders, focused on knowledge of the law. In and of itself, this is not a bad goal, but over time the Jewish community had focused so much on religious knowledge and status, that many had lost the central theme of faith, loving God and loving neighbor.

It is in this time that Jesus comes along and begins preaching about the Kingdom of Heaven. His focus was not just learning the law but seeing the law as a pathway for knowing and loving God. In one of His shortest parables, he compares the Kingdom to a jeweler finding a perfect pearl. The jeweler did not just admire the pearl from afar but upended his life to possess it. Similarly, Sean is not content with just admiring Will and his abilities, but like the merchant who sells everything, Sean is willing to risk his own wellbeing to bring Will healing. In doing so, his own life is transformed.

Jesus calls us not merely to just know the way, but to give our whole lives to follow Him.

This is the central issue of faith. Do we merely learn about God and his saving grace, or do we love God with all of our heart and allow him to transform us into his image?

Living out our faith in the kingdom is no easy task. Jesus himself instructs us to daily take up our cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). It means loving everyone and serving others. But here is the crazy truth: When we love others, we receive love. When we serve others, we often benefit as much or more than the people we serve, just as Sean too is transformed by working with Will. The task is hard, but the rewards are unfathomable. We get to live and love our God in his kingdom, both now and forever.  

Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. -Romans 12:2

Sean spends the whole movie trying to get Will to stop hiding behind his intellect and see that he is a person of value and worthy of love. God wants no less for us. His path is not just for us to know about Him, but to become like Him, living up to the image in which we were created.

Prayer:
God, help us to not just settle for the trinkets of knowing about you. Help us to set a course that radically transforms our lives into your loving image, so that we can live and love daily in Your kingdom.