I HATE ORPHANS

The movie, Nacho Libre, is one of my favorite guilty pleasures to watch. Its quirky comedy is for random, silly people like myself. However, I want to highlight a specific comedic scene in the movie and give it a more serious spin. If you haven’t seen the movie I hope what I share is something that still makes sense. The wrestler, Esqueleto, stares in frustration at the main character of the movie and his partner in the ring, Nacho Libre. Suddenly Esqueleto angrily announces “I hate orphans!”. Nacho is shocked and this comment makes these friends instant enemies. Nacho had become a luchador (wrestler) to escape the boredom of his religious duties and to give the orphans a better life, while Esqueleto was in it for the money and only for himself. The back and forth between these two makes for an epic scene but I won’t give any of the details away. You’ll have to watch it for yourself.

However, it did have me thinking. The orphans I want to discuss are not necessarily ones who live in orphanages but are orphans because of what’s going on in their hearts. They are people who don’t know where they belong, they don’t know if they are loved, they are unsure about the future and aren’t sure of who they are. People with an orphan heart are not easy to love because of their neediness and tendency to sabotage what’s good for them. They are people who are on survival mode. Sound familiar? If it does it’s because we all have a little orphanism in all of us. Here is a twist. Esqueleto doesn’t realize that what he hates is what exists in him. He was a man with an orphan heart judging orphans. We are all missing something and feel a void. It’s only remedy is when we encounter the transformational love of our Heavenly Father found in the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ. The only way to come out of the “orphanage” is to be adopted into the family of God.

Most of what we hate in the world is because orphans have been running it. When that happens the way things are cared for are warped and the way to progress hurts more people than it helps. Children of God have access to the Father’s heart for themselves and the world. That effects how they live and lead. Like Nacho the Lord willingly stepped into the ring of this planet and wrestled against enemies of our destiny and true identity of being children made in the image of our Father.

Our Heavenly Fathers love is too good to never experience. If I could take you to a place where you are guaranteed to experience it I would. The truth is He makes His love available to all the spiritual orphans in the world but where we need to go to know that love is different for all of us. Some might find it on a walk where the beauty of nature tells you something about the one who created it for you. Some might find it in a place of recovery where you see that your choices have power and your choice of ignoring God is part of the problem. We all have a special place where God is not afraid of showing up and adopting us as His children.

I don’t know if my diagnosis sounds too cheesy or simplistic. If so, my excuse for the cheese is that I was using Nacho Libre as my metaphor. Nacho is for the cheese and Libre means free. The truth that sets us free is often simple to understand but difficult to live out. I’ll let you wrestle with that ;-)

PS ooxxooXoXXx

That was for all the fans of the movie