November 12, 2004
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
--Matthew 12:34
In 1956, the noted filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock produced a second version of his 1934 movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much. The 1956 version starred James Stewart and Doris Day as an American couple vacationing in Morocco with their son. They accidentally become aware of an assassination plot, and their son is kidnapped by the assassins to ensure their silence. The movie proceeds from that point in typical Hitchcock fashion—ordinary people being swept up in chaotic, frightening circumstances totally beyond their control.
The Man Who Knew Too Much won an Oscar for best song, “Que Sera, Sera.” The song is catchy and creative, but its chorus offers little hope for folks desperately trying to escape the tangled web presented in the movie: “Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be; the future’s not ours to see. Que sera, sera.”
Whatever will be, will be? Is that the best life has to offer? For many people, I’m afraid it is. How many times do we hear folks use the expression, “Whatever!” That’s just a shortened version of “Que sera, sera.” I’m sorry to say that I even hear Christians summarizing their approach to a given situation under the “Whatever!” label. When Christians exchange their faith for fatalism, we’ve got a problem. I know—people, especially young people, who use that phrase aren’t doing so as an expression of a well-thought-out philosophical worldview. But our words reflect what we believe.
Let me ask you—do you ever throw up your hands, roll your eyes, and conclude, “Whatever!” about life? Most of us have never found ourselves in the life threatening, chaotic situation conceived by Mr. Hitchcock. And yet, as they say, life imitates art all too often. Life does get chaotic. It can seem out of control. And if your physical life isn’t being threatened, you might feel as though your spiritual, emotional, and mental lives are. So how is a believer’s faith supposed to help when it looks as though fate has taken over? When it appears that life is as controllable as an avalanche in the Swiss Alps—with you being swept up, carried along, and buried under a pile at the bottom?
Faith. Faith is when you believe some of the most important words recorded in the Bible—and act accordingly. The person of faith believes that all things—even the kidnapping of a child as happened in the movie—work together for good to those who love God. Those who have demonstrated their love for God, proven they are the called by believing in Christ, are the ones for whom fate is replaced by faith.
Are you one of those? If so, then begin walking today by faith, not by fate. If “Que Sera, Sera” is your theme song, then step one is to believe in Christ. It’s the only way to be certain that all things are working together for good.
STOP SINGING “QUE SERA, SERA,” AND
START SINGING THE TUNES OF FAITH.