The Good Place

I have a thing for watching uninteresting movies and clips. Do you know those narrated or acted Reel-short stories on Facebook and Instagram with terrible acting and storylines? Do you know those humanoid cat stories on Instagram? I will keep rolling my eyes and complaining, but I will still watch them 😅. In the same vein, sometimes, if I start a movie on a streaming platform like Netflix or Hulu and I don't like the story, I will still prefer to watch it till the end instead of stopping the movie midway. In my mind, I am like, "I know it's terrible, but I want to see how terribly it ends."

I watched a series on Netflix recently titled The Good Place. When I started it, I really didn't like the portrayal of the utopian heaven-like paradise, but I don't quit on movies or series, so I kept on watching. 

One aspect of the series that really stood out to me was when they found out no one had been to heaven in over 500 years because the system rewards people based on their actions, and with civilization and globalization, that system couldn't accurately account for human behavior. Thus, everyone ended up in the bad place - hell.

That part of the series really stood out to me because, in reality, we are not made righteous because of our actions or inactions. We are not going to heaven because of our actions, but because of Christ's actions. 

In the series, one of the characters, Eleanor, realizes she hadn't lived a good life while she was on earth, so she gets another character, Uche, to teach her "ethics" so she can get to the good place (heaven). In the same way, some of us do our best to "earn" our way to righteousness or heaven through our actions, thinking that our good deeds and moral behavior will be good enough, but the truth is that no amount of good deeds will be enough. None of us can measure up on our own.

Honestly, this is the beauty of the gospel! We get to spend eternity with God, not because of what we have done or because of who we are, but because of Jesus Christ. His life, death, and resurrection are what guarantee us a place in heaven, and His actions are what justify us and make us righteous before God.

Also, we don't have to earn or work to attain His love and righteousness. He loved us and died for us while we were yet sinners. We are called into sonship and not servantship. 

P.S.- The series is not a Christian series, and these are just my interpretations.

Anyway, whether it’s a cringey reel or a thought-provoking series, I’m reminded that God can use anything, even the most unlikely things, to point us back to His truth.

At the end of the day, it’s not about how well we perform or how many "good place" points we rack up. It’s about receiving the gift of grace that Jesus already paid for in full.

Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

If you're reading this and you’ve ever felt like you had to earn God’s love or prove your worth, I hope this reminds you that you're already deeply loved, right now, right where you are.

Feel free to drop a comment below: What's the weirdest thing God has used to teach you something deep? I’d love to hear it. 😊