Inspired by his recent appearance on The Cel Cast Podcast, Dallas takes a look at Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions to talk about what someone who’s truly a friend closer than a brother.
Check out The Cel Cast: https://thecelcast.podbean.com/
Written Version
Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions is a movie that came out in 2016 and is a direct sequel to the series and other movies. In the movie, we see Yugi fight a new character named Diva. Diva has kidnapped one of Yugi’s friends. Amid their final battle, Diva is on the edge of winning when he offers Yugi another option. He offers Yugi the opportunity to take his side and help rebuild the world in their own image. Yugi responds, paraphrasing, “You don’t know me very well. I will do anything for my friends.” With that, Yugi denies Diva’s offer and stares death in the eye as he draws his next card.
In today’s devotion, we are talking about someone who has that dedication for you and me… Jesus.
A man with many friends may be harmed by them, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:24 ( Tree of Life Version | TLV)
This is what we call a Messianic prophecy that points out characteristics of the promised Messiah. This verse tells us that Jesus, the one we believe to be the promised Messiah, sticks closer than a brother. Like Yugi, he was willing to lay down his life for us… his friends. As Christians, we believe that we are born into sin. The only way to be redeemed is through the sacrifice of Jesus. We know from the scriptures that God desired to see all of us saved from this sin nature that he offered up His Son to take on the punishment for our sins.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
John 3:16-17 (Tree of Life Version | TLV)
Now understand this, Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t just a matter of Him following orders. If you look at the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4), we see something interesting. Satan offered Jesus the opportunity to sidestep the pain and suffering ahead of Him if he’d bow to him. Instead, Jesus dismisses Satan. Jesus knows full well that God is the only one who should be worshiped; at the same time, he understood that doing this meant we would never be able to have a relationship with God.
For those of you who do not believe in Christ as your savior, we want you to know this. God loves you dearly. So much so that He came to Earth in the form of a man. He proceeded to die so you could choose to accept this love. It’s not contingent on you having your life together. It’s there waiting for you to accept it.
For those of you who have accepted this love, this is your reminder. God loves you, he’s proud of you, and he chose you. So let this devotional stir up your faith and remind you of your first love.