It’s easy to get carried around by the troubles and afflictions of this world. To think there is no end to the suffering that aches every part of our body as if it is going to kill us. The pain is something we try to forget; to bury so deep that people will not notice it. But sometimes that pain is so deep that it leaves behind scars that last a lifetime, just like in the case of Maui from Moana.
His tattoos tell of the places he’s been; from his victories to his failures. In the movie, we are introduced to Maui as a demi-god from the wind and sea who can do anything he wants and are told of his many victories. Yet, halfway through the movie, we are introduced to what I see as the most important of all his tattoos: the one where he is abandoned by his family. Thrown away as if he was nothing.
In my personal experience, I know what that feels like. To be thrown out as an outcast who doesn’t have worth. I wonder if some of you have experienced that as well. It can either be as a student, an adult, a teenager, a friend, a daughter, or a son. It is a pain that lives within us, yet because of the shame we often choose not to talk about it – especially in church.
I think however, it is in church that we must start to address this because of the never-ending love that Jesus has for us. He teaches us that we are worthy and blessed with many things even when we don’t see them. He teaches us that our fear and scars are capable of being healed and loved even when we don’t think they are. He is the perfect definition of redemption because He gave his life for it. He did what most would never do.
And for those people that feel all alone and lost, He did the one thing no one would do: give it all for you. The Bible says, “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.” But remember, that life is not pain-free. Just because we know God is real, it doesn’t take the pain and affliction away. Just like in the case of Maui, we were saved by God and made special, giving us the strength to return even to where we were made to feel like nothing.
Sol Arguello is a Newsong legend. From Nova Academy to The Mix to UCLA and beyond, she keeps finding new ways to make our church proud and remind us that we’re not defined by our worst moments, but by the God who considers us worth dying for.
