Movie Review

I watched Chariots of Fire a month ago with some Millsaps folk. I was reminded once again of the movie’s excellence and of my desire for a cool Scottish accent. Good scenery, good acting, a good beach scene, and a great story. As everyone knows, it’s the story of Harold Abrams and Eric Liddel and their quest for Olympic gold. Behind the story is a vivid picture of idolatry and worship.

For Harold Abrams, the pursuit of a championship stems from an idolatry of winning. In one chilling scene before the 100 meter dash, Abrams glances at his friend and says “And now in one hour's time I will be out there again. I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. But WILL I?" A great illustration of the snare of idolatry. Idolatry always makes its worshiper say, I must have (fill in the blank) to have happiness and satisfaction. Again, Abrams feels the emptiness of idolatry when he states , "I'm forever in pursuit and I don't even know what I am chasing."

Idolatry is the worship of anything but God. It is the essence of the first commandment and at the core of all sin. Idolatry occurs when one looks to anything outside of Christ as his/her savior. It could be money, approval of man, success, or a spouse. For Harold, it was being the best. He was convinced that if only he was the best, he would be happy, satisfied, and who he was made to be. The English sprinter was worshiping success. Follow your time, your money, and your daydreaming and at that point you have your true god. What do I look at and say “if only I had that, then I would be satisfied?”

The movie does a great job of depicting the slavery of idolatry. Abrams believes the idol is serving him. He thinks his running success will bring satisfaction and make him someone. However, throughout the movie the viewer realizes that in fact Abrams has begun serving the idol. It is his running and vicious pursuit of success that controls him instead of vice versa. Idolatry is a vicious taskmaster. He puts his girlfriend on hold, seems to have little enjoyment in life, and is so scared of losing he reaches despair. Even after achieving his life goal, he still looks so unsatisfied. He sorrowfully comes to see the truth of an earlier statement by Liddell. Liddell at one point asks the question “how long does the winning feeling last?” The promises of satisfaction and joy made by Abram’s idol were fleeting. Idolatry never delivers the satisfaction and salvation promised. Indeed the idol has enslaved him! It has required a treadmill of work with no real joy and relief at the end.

What a picture of us. We were made to glorify God and enjoy him forever. However, as Calvin states, we are idol-making factories. We keep looking at things outside of Christ and think if I don’t have (popularity - yours truly) or ____ I’m not sure I can go on. Abrams said without success and victory I am no one.

On the other hand, Eric Liddell is content and relaxed yet just as driven. The Scottish speedster has a different motivation! In a chilling scene, his sister Janie pleads with him to quit running. She argues “all this running is getting in the way of the real work (his being a missionary).” Liddell passionately responds with the goosebumps line, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure.”

Eric knew running was just as Godly as preaching. God had given Eric an incredible gift and to not use and cultivate that gift is to “hold God in contempt.” Therefore, when Eric ran, it wasn’t slavery, but freedom. The running scenes let viewer enter into Eric’s freedom and joy. Liddell could run his heart out knowing he was using his gift for God’s glory. It brought a joy and freedom almost evident on the screen. He knew he had the approval of God in the imputed righteousness of Christ. Having the approval of God sent him out into the world to perform his tasks out of love for Christ. His performance was earning nothing, for all approval was earned at the cross. Since all approval was earned in Jesus Christ, he could freely run his best, and neither success nor failure changed his worth in Christ. First place, second place or last place did not change his status before Christ. On the other hand, Abrams acceptance was solely based on his performance. Therefore failure meant despair, and the dissatisfaction of success meant only more despair.

A Christian may be gifted in mathematics (that gift missed me) The mathematician glorifies God through honest accounting or mathematics instruction, while another may be gifted in the sciences or preaching. The beauty of the body is that God has equipped all his children in different ways. “If the foot should say, Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.” (I Cor. 12:15) We worship and live for a God who gives us approval through Christ and then sends us out into service. We give our best to Christ and know that amidst our failings and sin Christ has died for us. Abrams discovered that anything outside of Christ would not die for him. When he failed, his running ability couldn’t die and make atonement for him. Only Jesus makes atonement for “he who knew no sin became sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God.” Nothing but God is large enough to handle the weight of all our hopes and desires.

We look to Jesus as our substitute AND as an example. Consider Hebrews 12:2. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” It was a joy set before Him which motivated Christ to endure the cross. What brought joy to the God of this universe? It was his children. Jesus endured the cross in anticipation of the joy of freeing his children from slavery and bringing them into His kingdom and family. May we consider it a joy to serve the living God out of a thankful heart that realizes there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1)

On another movie note, I'm getting pretty excited about movies this summer. Hopefully sweet emotin can review a few for some of its readers. My films I'm looking forward to are:
1) Transformers - seeing Optimus Prime on the big screen made me return to childhood.
2) Spiderman 3
3) Die Hard IV