It has been said that everyone loves a villain. And you know its true. All of a sudden someone enters the stage onto whom we can project all of our darkness. We can loathe them and we are completely justified. They are a villain and there demise is the ultimate justification played out before us. The problem is that all to often in life we believe that villains in the form of people around us and we are all to eager to cast all of our darkness onto them in order to separate ourselves from their wickedness in order to justify our righteousness. But villains are characters and they are fictitious. How do I know this?

The apostle Paul wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 4:12) So if our struggle is not against flesh and blood then there are really no villains. Yes there are people who have given into the darkness and perform evil acts, but our fight is not with them, but rather with the systems of violence, sin and death that have captured their hearts.

Then why do we alienate, villainize and condemn those who commit sin. Because sometimes it is easier to cast the villain than it is to participate in their redemption. And sometimes if we find someone who is in a darker place than us, then we are able to paint ourselves in greater light. Maybe instead we need to be reminded that we were all at one time or another enemies of the cross and take on the mission of reclaiming those who are lost…rather than casting them as the villain.

* This blog sparked this line of thought…a great read: http://donmilleris.com/2011/02/22/how-a-consumer-thinks/