A good story needs bad guys. The good guys have to defeat the bad guys and all is right with the world, but not before an intense struggle ensues where the good guys have to use every strategy known to man to overcome their adversaries.
I was describing a movie I had seen on an airplane, The Million Dollar Arm, about young men who were incredible athletes and were recruited from India for Major League Baseball. Two of them went from poverty to extreme wealth by learning to throw a baseball hard and fast. I told my husband it was a great movie.
As my husband, a baseball fan, listened, he asked, “Yes, but who are the bad guys?” He didn’t think you could have a great movie without bad guys and he didn’t hear any in my description of the movie plot.
The bad guys were there and they were bad all right. It was our heroes, the third world ball players, that had to slay them. Problem is – they were invisible. All of the visible guys were good guys – the coaches, the family members, the friends, the representatives from the major league teams. They were allies, helping the boys any and every way they could.
The bad guys were the demons within – the doubts, fears, and initial failures to measure up. These young men were in a spiritual battle and, as Ephesians 6:10-17 tells us, we have to use spiritual weapons to overcome spiritual bad guys.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil…Stand, therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
The boys gave each other pep talks and listened to encouragement from their allies, the good guys. They had to get rid of their fears and doubts to move to a level of athletic ability that would allow them to throw the baseball in a way that would get them into the major leagues. This was a mental battle as much as a physical one. Two of them, Rinku Singh Rajput and Dinesh Patel, made it to the United States and played for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They won their battles with the bad guys, but what about us? All of us face battles where the bad guys are there to steal the good God has for us. With the shield of faith (reminding ourselves constantly of God’s promises and that he is faithful to honor them) and the sword of the spirit (quoting God’s word directly to the bad guys and telling them to get lost), we will win our battles as well.
The demons of doubt and fear can rob us of the good God has for us.
