La La Land

Spoiler Alert:
This blog will give you some general knowledge of the basic plot line of the movie La La Land.

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other. John 15:12-17

My wife, Maureen, and I recently went to see the movie La La Land and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. They had me from the first scene where they were singing on the freeway. I love musicals. But, the message of the movie is a message that is very much opposed to that of John 15.  At one point in the movie, Mia (the leading lady) says to Sebastian (the leading man), “I’m always gonna love you” and Sebastian responds with “I’m always gonna love you too.” But by the end of the movie, each of them has pursued their own dream; and the dreams they have pursued have left no room for the person they claim to love. Did I just give you a bit of a spoiler? I doubt it. When we think about it, isn’t that one of the main messages of many of our movies and television series? You probably could have guessed the plot of this story.

Television and movies tell you that the most important thing in life is to follow your own dream. Jesus tells you in John 15 that we are to love one another and create space for others in our lives.

Jesus calls us friends and sets the example for us of how we are to treat one another as spiritual friends. We are to love each other with a selfless love that puts aside our own lives, or maybe our own ambitions, for the sake of helping others.

You see, if it weren’t for these words of Jesus found here in John 15 (and several other places), we could live our lives in isolation, seeking to read our Bible daily and develop our relationship with God. But Jesus is saying something else. He is saying, the only way that we truly enter into friendship with God is by the grace of community. We must have, and we must be, spiritual friends.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another ... Hebrews 10:24, 25.

The key is finding ways to connect with one another, motivate one another, and encourage one another. The goal is acts of love and good works.