Unshackled Moments ~ February 8 ~ Selfless

.This past weekend my wife and watched the movie Selfless. It's a god movie, rated PG-3 and not entirely family friendly but there's no nudity and the language is mild compared to rated R films. The story is interesting and well done. While I would not recommend it to the very young or those who don't have a good grasp on reality, if you enjoy films like The Matrix (for the story idea not the special effects), and The 13th Floor it's a good one.

An elderly man with money is dying and undergoes a new procedure that allows him to transfer his self into a new, younger and healthy body. Of course, something's not quite right with either the procedure or the black market company that made it happen. Will the post procedure pills designed to help mesh his mind with the new body and prevent rejection work? The movie made me think of some interesting concepts and correlations that I can't discuss in a public forum or with someone who hasn't seen the film. I hate spoilers. But I did start thinking of something that is because of the movie but enough off script that it won't give things away.

We were all old and dying, no matter how young we were. We were without a future or hope. Everything that we had done or gained simply was not enough. God provided us with a new chance, a fresh start. No, not a new body with the old self, but something better. We received a new self. Someday on the other side of eternity  we will be given a new and perfect body to go with the new person God made. The differences between who we are and who we were vary from glaring and so distinct that people who knew us ask about the change and are shocked to sadly, not much difference at all. The process is done, once and for all, the things that make us who we are are new and different. But in order for that new person to have the most impact and smoothly transition and progress from fresh and new to ready for the perfect body that waits the old self must be purged and removed.

This purging of the old self is done simply by surrendering to the process. The closer we get to our Creator and the more we surrender to the Spirit, the stronger the new self becomes, the more the old self fades and the higher the quality of life with peace, joy and love at the center of its characteristics. As long as the old self is allowed to remain and reemerge there is conflict and misery to some extent. The new can never be all it was created to be while wrestling with the old rather than just being. Now, on this side of eternity, we will always have some struggle with the old and will never be able to purge it completely, but we can surrender and daily exercise self mortification with the help of the Holy Spirit so that the amount that old self interferes with the new self and the ability of others to see and recognize the old over the new becomes less and less. Then, we become a walking, talking example of the renewal process and a testament to the great God who preforms. Our lives can be so much better the more we surrender, the more we are selfless.

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