Save the Cheerleader . . . Save the World
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Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
I don’t watch much prime time television. In fact, I don’t watch much television at all. One NBC program that has really gotten me hooked though is Heroes. The “Cheerleader” is one of the main characters. It’s a pretty “out there” storyline about all these people who are genetically pre-disposed to have super powers that at apparently some pre-planned time become activated. As this season has progressed each of their powers become stronger, and many of those with powers begin to acquire other powers as well. It’s a sci-fi, action/adventure, fantasy show that is has just the ideal number of out-there possibilities that I am hooked. Reality TV is just too stressful for me to watch—this stuff, I consider sheer entertainment!
The tagline for the program – which is probably what piqued my interest in the fist place, is “Save the Cheerleader . . . Save the World. We (the viewers) don’t know if the cheerleader must be saved in order to save the world, or if both the cheerleader and the world need be saved either simultaneously, separately or in a particular order. We don’t even really know who the “bad guys” are or how everyone is connected yet.
I get pretty wrapped up in the drama of it all. Several of the characters have become so driven to do their part to “save the world” that they’ve actually risked their lives. None of them have figured out what their exact role in the whole plan is supposed to be, but they know that losing the battle to save the world is not an option. They are desperate to save the world. They will do anything to do so. They will risk everything. They are each willing to die if that is what will be required.
Thus far you’re wondering what this program has to do with the scripture. Maybe I’m the only one who can see the irony of the program and how we humans take on so much. We come to believe we have so much power. Do we honestly believe we can save the world? I get in that frame of mind on a regular and on-going basis! I see something that isn’t right in the world and think I have to fix it. I don’t settle with just doing what I can do, and accepting that the rest is out of my hands. I stress and fret and lose sleep over the fact that the outcome I want isn’t happening. Worse, it may never happen, and I get even more stressed about that! In short I fall victim of the belief that I must, and I mean must, be in charge of the world. When the world doesn’t comply, I start to fall apart.
I forget that Christ is the one to whom I should be giving these problems. God made the world, not me. God has a plan that I cannot possibly know. He knows the future. I do not, nor can I predict it with any certainty or credibility. I do know and believe with all that I am that Jesus was speaking to me when he uttered these words, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” He wants us to rest in him and to allow ourselves to be comforted and assured that the world is in the hands of our God.
We don’t need to fear we will fall short of saving the world. God’s got it under control. Our job is to do all we can, live the best lives we can, and to help others do the same. Our faith is what makes us stand apart in the world. We don’t need “super powers” because we already have a savior that saved us all a long time ago. And He waits for us at the end of time—whenever that will happen, and in whatever way God has already decided.
My prayer today is that after you have done all you can to right the wrongs in the world, you will give the results of your efforts to Jesus. And that you will rest in Him as the world unfolds according to God’s divine plan.
Mary
