This weekend, I finally learned how to truly redeem enriching entertainment, specifically through a movie. Until very recently, I wasn’t too fond about enjoying films that aren’t explicitly instructional, but I’ve now come to the conclusion that any good story can be used to live a life more faithful to Jesus. Sadly, I hadn’t found the secret of this until this week.

It was as the result of watching The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, that I came to this realization. But first, I was convicted by the fact that my viewing of the film hadn’t positively changed my thinking at all. The day after finishing it, I was struck that I hadn’t come away from my viewing with any piece of knowledge or wisdom that had changed the way I was living. But what’s the point of watching or listening to a story play out, if you don’t learn any lesson from it? According to Scripture, in most cases there’s no good purpose in contemplating a set of ideas if your mind isn’t benefited by it, so that you have more focus on heavenly things, and a better understanding of how to do God’s will.

Paul gives us the parameters for what we should allow our minds to be immersed in in Philippians 4:8:

“. . . whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (NASB95)

Thus, we have here the guidelines for all our deep thinking. And believe me, watching a movie, or listening to a story requires deep thinking. If we are to fully benefit from anything we allow our thoughts to drift into, then we must be paying careful attention to it. And from this verse, we see that we should be looking for all of the elements that Paul mentions.

And yet, with most films, it’s quite difficult to think deeply about the Scriptural and spiritual significance of what you’re currently watching. What’s the solution? You need to take adequate time to reflect on what you’ve watched, after you’ve watched it. This is what I found I had to do after watching my film this week.

Much like meditating on Scripture, meditation on stories such as The Lord of the Rings requires you to recall what you’ve experienced, relate it to the truths of Scripture, and then apply it to your life. In the case of The Two Towers, the main plot of the second half involved a besieged virtuous alliance of nations within a fortress, which was nearly overrun by an evil army. At the point when all hope was almost lost, one of the leaders remembered that his wizard friend had advised him to expect help from the direction of the sunrise, and to act accordingly. Hence, when the sun began to rise, he called for a desperate counterattack against the winning foes, and in so doing prepared the way for reinforcements that came from the East, blinding the enemy, and striking them at their rear. With their forces crushed from both sides, the survivors fled, and were then annihilated.

Thinking about this series of events, I was reminded of the condition of Christ’s body in the West, where we are largely in hiding, and on the run, in the face of various Satanic pressures. As a result, very few western believers are making major efforts to deliberately and corporately reach out to unbelievers with the gospel, or to do things to promote the gospel. Largely, we are on the defensive in the West. And yet, Jesus said that “the gates of hell will not prevail against” His Assembly (Mt. 19:18). This promise implies that His people are supposed to be assaulting Satan’s forces, not simply resisting them. Thus, the parallel with the holed up forces in the movie. Like them, we need to break out of our strongholds, and meet the enemy face to face. At the same time, we should look to the help provided by the sunrise of the Lord’s Spirit, and any reinforcements He has provided for us. This means devoting ourselves to prayer, trusting in His promises, and working together with believers in different places, so we can wield the sword of the Spirit against the demonic captors that hold all unbelievers. In other words, we should work together to be aggressive, concerted, and expectant in our evangelism and witness to the unbelieving world around.

So, this is just a sampling of how you can use stories, films, and fictional books, to enrich you’re thinking about God’s work, and your part in it. May we continue to use every opportunity we have to seek heavenly things by focusing on the things that have to do with our Lord’s heavenly kingdom, and our advancement of it in this world.