Call me weird, but I like the vampire diaries. Ever since I was young I have liked some things about vampire shows. It isn't the gore, that's gross. It's the power. They are fictional beings that don't die very easily. That have great power. They are almost supernatural. Which is why I think I was drawn to them before I knew Jesus Christ as my Savior.
And now I think maybe it is a reminder to me and a pull on me that there is a world beyond this one; where there are beings of great power, where God is real, where amazing things do go on that are beyond the hum-drum of my life. As a missionary I know said recently, "God is at work." He is.
He is doing great things in this world. He is miraculously transforming sinners like me to become eventually like His great Son. He is rescuing sinners like me from the wrath all the world will face. And justly face. He is healing people. He is forgiving people. He is bringing love to hearts that never thought they could feel or know love, in hardened tough guys, and abused women, and mistreated children. In wealthy bankers, and sophisticated preachers, and downtrodden migrant workers. The list of broken hearts and worn out lives goes on and on and on. God is at work. From a world beyond.
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4
I also like this particular show, the Vampire Diaries, like Moonlight, because I meet fictional characters that are interesting and well developed. And in both the lead characters, Stephen in V.Diaries, and the PI whose name I can't remember in Moonlight, they are beings caught as vampires who are apparently good at heart. So they struggle with their "vampireness." The strictly evil vampires that hurt and maim and destroy, ever since the first Dracula book, are simply to me an allegorical way of discussing demons. Soul-sucking powerful evil beings who hate God and Christ. They are basically disgusting, but their power is "attractive," and I suppose that is why power is tempting and turning to evil can appear that way. But behind it lays great evil and horror. We must never lose sight of that, with such power that draws its life by destroying others lay only blackness. There is no redemption in that, just as there is no redemption for demons. They are doomed and damned. And therefore should have no ultimate attractiveness.
But in many ways the modern "good vampires" displayed in V. Diaries, Moonlight, and the Twilight movies and books represent something different to me. Perhaps they are an attempt at a deception that we can try to hide our evil nature but it is still there. Ok. But, these characters are portrayed as good. They have good intentions, they protect people, they use their power for good not evil. It is redemption, in many ways, that is being portrayed. Finding a way out of the evil in which we are trapped. That is what the real human being actually is. We are caught in bodies as sinners under the wrath of God, who need a way out. We are lost. And only because God made a way, through Christ and His death for us and resurrection, do we have hope. We can be made good. In spite of being "trapped" here as sinners in fallen bodies, facing temptation, we can by God's grace and intervention in our lives seek out and not only do good, but be made good and become good. Like God. Only through Jesus Christ.
So, remember, we live in a world where the unseen world beyond is much more powerful and enduring than the seen world. Where God is at work. Into this world. And He is redeeming beings like you and me and wanting us to walk in the resurrection power of His Son. Let's walk with Jesus. And keep our eyes steadfastly focused on the unseen world beyond this one.
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