Hope for Life Blog

When they were young, my kids loved videos. They could watch the same movies over and over again. Consequently, I watched the same movies over and over again. Not as many times as my kids, but I certainly would get a good dose of each movie. One favorite in our household was the Disney movie, “Lion King.” In the movie, Simba, the young lion who is next in line to be king of his pride is present when his father dies in an accident. Simba is convinced that he is to blame for his father’s death and flees into the desert. He is rescued there by two jungle animals who take him to an oasis and nurse him back to health. These are insectivores, eating only grubs, worms and other bugs. They teach the young lion to live as they do. Their key phrase is “Hakuna Matata,” a Swahili phrase meaning “There are no worries here.” For them, life was about eating, dancing and singing. They felt no responsibilities toward anyone else.

Then comes the time when Simba has a vision of his dead father. The ex-king has one word for his son: “Remember.” The young lion was meant to be royalty, king of the beasts, leader of the pride of lions. Instead, he was eating bugs and living a selfish life. His life was far from what it was meant to be.

For many of us, that’s the very thing that we need. We need to remember. We need to remember who we are supposed to be. We need to remember who God made us to be. We were not made to live like animals. God has instilled in us a sense of purpose, a dignity, a higher calling. We need to remember.

Just as Simba needed to remember whose son he was, we need to see that God has given us the chance to be His sons. We can be so much more than bug-eating self-centered animals. We can be royalty, sons and daughters of the King, children of God. We can be part of God’s family, living our lives with purpose and dignity. We have been called to greatness. We just have to remember who we are. We just have to remember Whose children we can be.

Grace and peace,
Tim Archer