"Why would God care about me? I'm just a normal guy."
It's an excellent question. With an amazing answer. Unfortunately, Dean Winchester of the series "Supernatural" has yet to receive a satisfactory response to this question and many, many others.
I've been watching the show on Netflix. Don't go skipping off to the TV and put it on for the family. It's most definitely not for everyone. There's a lot of blood and guts, a lot of scary monsters, and brothers Dean and Sam are a bit rough with the language and innuendo at times. I also can't say that I approve of the CW inserting a scantily clad young female into just about every episode, either. But the reason I keep watching is for the deeper storyline. The depth of two young men who have suffered unimaginable losses and have no solid ground to stand on. They are at heart searching for a purpose. A reason for all the madness they are surrounded by. No matter how futile their attempts might seem, they continue to fight with all of their gathered strength against the continuous forces of evil. If they can save a life, then it doesn't matter that the quest has consumed any hope they have a normal life.
I started watching it because I've always liked the edgier, scary story. My sisters and I grew up watching scary movies and we had every episode of The X-Files memorized. More recently I enjoyed Fringe, and when that show had run its course I was searching for a replacement. Supernatural has filled that void.
But I don't think I've ever been more frustrated while taking a journey with characters. Sam and Dean were naturally brought to the point of asking the hardest questions. Why me? Am I cursed? Why is there such horrible evil in this world if there is a God who cares? And why would he care about me? I'm not perfect or strong, and I've been tainted by all the evil I fight. Amid all the beliefs of all the religions of the world, what is the truth? Can angels be trusted? Can God be trusted? Can I be saved?
These are the things Sam and Dean have been saying mid season 4. And my heart just keeps crying out, wanting to be heard. Wanting to will the truth onto the screen, into the script, to be a natural part of the story. Where they hit the nail on the head in Biblical truth, I applaud. Where they take liberties and go too far, cross the line and try to discount the most trustworthy Book ever written, I cringe. But when they ask these questions, I don't just hear two brothers on a television show.
I hear the hearts of our cynical, weary, proud society. I hear the voices of the masses, looking at all we have accomplished and all we possess and knowing that it isn't enough. It doesn't fill our need. It can't ever bring us the peace and happiness we all desperately want.
There's an easy answer to Sam and Dean's questions. When we look at the evil, when we stare hard into all the nasty effects that sin has brought to our groaning world, we can't see the truth. We can't see the light there. We can't just say there is a God and have hope. God is as scary to a sinner as the demons that try to destroy our lives. He's just as unreachable as the stars. There's only one bridge, one amazing and beautiful answer to the most horrifying realizations a human can have. And it can all be said in one word.
Jesus.
Without Jesus, without God-become-man-become-sin on a cross of death, without that man rising again in power and defeating hell and Satan and all the forces of evil, we'd be in a state of hopelessness. But as soon as you look into the loving, all-consuming brightness of the Savior's face, you understand. You know there's nothing left here that is stronger than the hold he has on your soul. You know there's nothing more powerful than a love that gave everything, and went to hell and back to set you free from the sin-cursed world.
I'd love to say it to every hurting heart in this world. I'd love to be able to say it to every hopeless being wandering helpless and alone. There is hope. There can be ultimate peace and joy in the face of life's hardest experiences. It only takes a seed of faith, and the humility to admit your hopeless condition. Jesus does everything else.
He is the answer.
"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:31-39
