Tuesday, January 20, 2015

People pleasing vs. Integrity

I watched one of the most interesting movies on Lifetime called “Girl Fight.”  This movie was about a group of “mean/cool girls” in high school and the devastating effects of what could happen when one nice girl wants to fit in.  The movie started out with “Tina” (I forget the actual name) and her best friend talking and sharing their thoughts online about the “mean/cool girls.” Tina has a part-time job at a diner and she see the girls are there when she arrives.  They stick her with the bill but the leader of the group, “Patty” I’ll call her, promised she’ll pay her back at school the next day.  Well, do I need to say she doesn’t repay her?  The movie progresses to where the viewers watch Tina go against what she’s knows is smart and logical, to the acceptance of the groups antics just to be a part of them.  She eventually blows off her best friend from elementary school.  

Well, the old e-mails are discovered by one of the girls in the group who had become jealous of Tina’s and Patty’s closeness.  Once she tells Patty and the other girls about the e-mail, the revenge is on.  They trick Tina into coming over to Patty’s house.  The girl who discovered the e-mail beats Tina unmercifully, with a couple of other girls joining in and then they dump her off at a parking lot with threats of beating her again if she told.  She tells.

This movie had a few themes that I took away from it: compromising, pleasing others, jealousy, revenge and forgiveness.  Tina was so willing to compromise the beliefs her parents instilled in her, like how she should treat and respect herself and others, that she went against all of it just to be accepted by them.  Tina despised the way they treated others.  She used to make fun of the way they walked and dressed around the school as if they were important.  However, when Patty gave her the “opportunity” to become one of them, she morphed into them.  Tina knew she was only buying her way into their clique because she was the only one who had cash readily available, yet she didn’t care.  This only proved what was truly in her heart and she didn’t care how it came to fruition.  Tina even carried that behaviour over into her family life.  She mistreated her parents and tossed her little sister’s feelings aside when she wanted to celebrate Tina’s birthday.  The jealousy and revenge showed how it can take over one’s life if it isn’t controlled, as I mentioned before when the girls beat Tina.  Tina taught them and her parents a lesson in forgiveness by asking the court to not put the girls in an adult prison for 10 years (give or take a few years).  They received a year in juvenile, I think, and a few years of probation.  Tina’s best friend never held any bad feelings toward her mistreatment of her.  That spoke forgiveness also.

Jesus told us that we should forgive and to love our enemies who despitefully use us.  Now, on some things, I’m good with this.  On others, not so much.  I have to work on it by praying and asking for help to do it completely.  So, Jesus forgave all when He hung on the cross and He forgave one more on a cross next to Him.  He even extended that forgiveness by telling him he would be in Paradise with Jesus.  Read all about it in Matthew and Luke.  Heck, read all of the gospels.  Therefore, if Jesus can so easily forgive, and He has, who are we to say, “I can’t...won’t...never…forgive…!”  My last thought: we shouldn’t look to please others.  We can’t anyway because no one is ever really pleased with us and if so, what do they have that we really want?  What can they ever really give us?  I’d rather please the One who gave His life for me.  He sacrificed Himself for my liberty.  He’s all that matters and peep this:  He’ll never disappoint me and cause me to comprise myself just to be with Him.  Nope, He’s the answer for every situation and need in this life.

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