A friend I met in high school reached out to me recently to catch up. Considering how the last year of my life has gone, it was impossible to share my life with him without sharing my faith.
We’ve had discussions about our beliefs in the past, but my friend was not a Christian. He grew up culturally Jewish, but didn’t have much of a connection to the religion beyond a few years in Sunday school and couple of holidays. I told him about the connection of our faiths, and he grew more curious.
As I was trying to lean on Holy Spirit in the conversation with him, I really wanted to share God with my friend in a way that he could understand. Jesus himself used parables, metaphors, and/or stories quite often in his ministry because stories are how we connect with people. But the analogy that was given to me was unexpected to say the least. The Holy Spirit told me to explain the Gospel using the movie, Toy Story 3.
Bear with me; here’s how it goes. If you haven’t seen the movie, the toys are plucked from their home and find themselves in a new place with new rules, a problematic hierarchy, cruel circumstances, and unattainable expectations with no way out. This represents the fall of humans into sin (Genesis 3) and pretty much summarizes the Old Testament.
Further, when the toys fight back, they are met with increasing cruelty, thrown in the trash, and seemingly headed to their deaths, in a literal raging fire, no less! Their story reaches the climax--they band together and attempt to accept death. This may be blunt, but imagine the movie stops there. That’s basically the story of the Jewish faith. My friend actually laughed. He thought the movie up to that point as a metaphor for the Jewish faith was brutal, but accurate. But that’s the beautiful thing. The story doesn’t end there.
Right when you think the story’s over, the claw (a mechanical arm) reaches out and saves the toys, literally pulling them from the fire! In the Bible, the claw is Jesus and his sacrifice for our sins (Ephesians 2:5). The toys are saved and given a second chance to live. They find a new home, a new life, and a new loving relationship with an owner. The same goes for us when we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord of our life.
Just when we think it’s over, or that this life is all that exists, God pulls us from the fire and eternal death. He welcomes us into a new home (in heaven), life, and relationship with him that is better than anything we could’ve possibly imagined.
Mya Ponziani is pursuing her associate’s degree in nursing. While planting seeds at her college campus with the help of NCF, she leads worship at her home church and is involved in student ministry. She hopes her story encourages students and nurses to share their faith in a fun way, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Check out articles and resources for sharing your faith—the NCF website has good stuff!
Read about starting spiritual conversations.
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