So the new movie Creed punched me right in the gut. As a huge Rocky fan, I loved all the parts
that make it a Rocky film. I always love
the message carried in these movies and have seen their themes play out in my
life. This new addition has went another
level deeper and captured what I consider to be the deepest longing in our
hearts. Rocky Balboa transitions from a
boxer’s roll to a fathering role as we find out a young son of Apollo Creed is
needing much more than just training.
The critical message put on display goes to the core of each of us. We all struggle and fight with the question of who we are. If we even take time to really look at that question, we often end up evaluating rather we like ourselves or like the things we do. The question of who we are often leaves us trying to be ok with how we do life. But the real question of who we are goes much deeper. For most of us, the challenge is finding out how to answer the deeper question. There are so many voices, so many experiences, so many pains and joys that we try to mingle together to form an answer. Relationships, careers, money, achievements, recognition, what we own, the good things we do, are all ways of determining that answer for the majority of us. We strive, stress, and fight to “gain” the sense that we belong, we are valuable, and we are a success. Emotional, mental, and creative energies are spent on those aspects of life and yet we still have a nagging, haunting ache. We long to have it settled that we are OK. We long to know that we don’t have to have it all figured out or produce the most to be received. We need to know who we are. Once that is secured, we get to proceed in life, offering all we can FROM the place of success not from trying to GET TO success.
The place of success is a place that happens immediately and never diminishes. It’s a place that you are brought into and will never be sent away. This is a place that is available so you don’t spend your life burning up the hamster wheel. You actually get to live from who you are instead of spending life trying to obtain who you are. This propels you forward from a settled place of peace and unlocks a previously unfound thrust to proceed but without the turmoil of frantic striving. You move with the grain instead of always against it. Life becomes a dominated by a rhythm and security instead of chaos and brokenness. You are able to recognize what is flowing toward you and chasing you down verses what you are running after but never reaching. This is where you discover who you already are and are able to use that to the fullest. This is awakening to your core identity that rests in one place. What we are all longing for is the reality of “Sonship” to a good God that we know as Father. Jesus answered the question. By what Jesus achieved, you can come to rest in your core identity as a son or daughter. This is the highest place of success and value. That is the place you receive your name and embrace what is already yours. You get to carry on in the settled place of peace, filled with joy that you are already in victory, in success, in belonging. FROM that, you go after all there is for you. Instead of striving to obtain, you live life distributing what you already are. This place of Sonship is an awakening to the good Father you have, the place you are with Him, and the name He’s given you undergirds all you do. Living FROM success is far more powerful than living to obtain success.
This installment of the ROCKY saga shines a bright light on
this and gives you a cinematic opportunity to contrast what an orphan nature
looks like verse the place of living as a son.
May the joy of our heart be captured in the highest point of life…..
being His son/daughter.
