I have been a Tim Burton fan since I was a little kid. I remember being a young young young little dude, getting to watch his short animation called “Vincent.” Really creepy but really interesting, I’ve been fascinated with stop motion animation since then to be perfectly honest. “Nightmare Before Christmas,” to me, is the pinnacle of stop motion animation. It is so beautiful so well done, musically timed, the voice acting is so on point, its a gorgeous film. However, we are not talking about stop motion animation today. Why? Well, we talked about it a few years ago during Geekmas so you would need to go to this link here to read that devotion.
http:/geekdevotions.com/2017/12/08/making-moments-the-tim-burton-way/
So what are we talking about? Well, we are talking about purpose. If you are unfamiliar with the film, Jack “the Pumpkin King” is the king of Halloweentown basically. He’s kinda the most popular figure in Halloween Town, where they spend their year preparing for one particular thing, one particular purpose, and that’s Halloween. However Jack has grown complacent in his position as the Pumpkin King, he has grown complacent with Halloween. He’s bored with it and he is wanting to expand his horizons and discover something new.
One day while walking in the woods in a kind of funk he discovers a door shaped like a Christmas tree and when he falls in, he lands in Christmas Land. For the first time in Jack’s afterlife, he has discovered something wonderful and magical. He’s discovered snow, and brightly colored lights, he’s discovered Christmas and he is intrigued. He is legitimately intrigued by what he has discovered and he has to bring it home.
So he does, He comes back to Halloween Town, and he goes guys! Check out what I just found. Now I don’t want to spoil the whole movie for you for those who haven’t seen it and plan on it, but… Spoiler Alert it doesn’t go well. Jack tries to do Christmas in a very Halloween Town style and it fails. In fact, Santa Clause has to show up at the end of the movie to save the day. Why? Because that’s what Santy Claws does in just about every Christmas movie. … wait… is this a Christmas movie? to hear our answer go listen to this episode of CommTalk.
https://geekdevotions.com/2017/12/10/ct26/
So why was it that Jack Failed? Why was it that he failed at something that he was really interested in? He had no animosity towards it, he didn’t want to ruin Christmas, He even enjoyed what it was. So why did he fail at doing Christmas?
It wasn’t his purpose, it wasn’t in his wheelhouse. See Jack was structured and designed in a very specific way. Everyone in Halloween Town had a mindset that was set for very specific things… which was Halloween. They had no concept of what it would really be like to do Christmas. And that’s why they failed in the end. Who was better suited for Christmas? Well, the People in ChristmasTown. The people from that area. Why? Because that’s what they were designed for. They would really suck at Halloween. They would be terrible at Halloween, I don’t even want to think about all the other Holidays that they would do. They would just ruin those things. At this point, some of you are already going “ok Dallas, how are you going to turn this around, what is the spiritual application to this,” because of thats what we do. “How do we use this to let people know that they are loved because right now it sounds like your being a downer Dallas!” Well, this is the deal. I’m going to quote a friend of mine who says this.
“If you were born you have a purpose.”
You right there reading this you have a purpose. God has a plan and a purpose for you. He really really does. Now, you may not understand it just yet. You may not be operating in what He has for you. but he does have a place for you in the family of God.
The Apostle Paul was dealing with this church in Corinth and they were really struggling. They had some really deep-seated messed up stuff happening. One of them goes along the lines of things they were dealing with was how to use the gifts that they had. How to function in what God had for them. Some people felt like they could do everything, some people felt like they could do nothing and it became a big mess. So in the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians, he says this:
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (English Standard Version | ESV)
Paul is reminding the church in Corinth that there are a lot of moving parts to this thing called the Body of Christ, the church and everyone is important but we are all part of the same thing. No one is more important than the other but each one has a function, each one has a responsibility. You yourself you have a very specific gifting and way of seeing things and God needs you to fulfill a very specific task. To fill a very specific role. It may be to encourage someone it may be to challenge another it may be to meet the need of a situation that only you can meet.
I get it, it can be hard because you’re looking at people, going “wow I like what they do, they have something awesome, I want that,” and you know what? Sure they can inspire you to do something really cool. But you have to do things with what God has given you. and who God has created you to be.
Let me give you a great example, recently we posted up a video with the guys over at Integrity Motorsports who have this amazing ministry in Nascar and they are doing some awesome stuff. My man is like literally winning championships and ministering to people in the Nascar community and that’s really awesome! I wouldn’t know where to begin! I have no concept of how to race a vehicle. I’d know to turn left. That’s all I got but beyond that, I simply cannot operate in that world. If I tried I would probably fail miserably. But what I can do is take the concept of what is he doing?
He’s reaching into a community where he is at and he’s reaching to them and showing them grace, and showing them love. Well wait a minute, isn’t that what we do here at Geek Devotions only using geek culture using this medium that I happen to be really good at? Yeah, that’s what I’m doing. They inspire me to do this better. Now again I’m not gonna get a Formula One Racecar and drive around a track. I’m not going to become a NASCAR driver anytime soon. But I can be inspired to love you guys even more and to encourage you even more. And thats what were talking about.
I get it. there are some things out there that you think are really cool and let those inspire you and maybe, maybe one day God’s gonna open some doors for you to do that kind of stuff. But operate in how God created you, operate in what God has given you don’t operate outside of who you are and your giftings. Because it can get bad sometimes. Some of the biggest issues we’ve seen in the church are because some people operate outside their giftings. They operate in things they weren’t meant to be and sometimes that gets a little edgy. Let’s say an individual is one of those really prophetic really, hardline individuals, he’s probably not going to be very good at pastoral care. Just saying. So think about these things. Operate in what God has given you and let Him grow you as you walk in that.
Question of the week: Let us know about a time you stepped into something that you realized is something God has called you to do. That you’re gifting are just meant for perfectly.