How to Be Reunited with Your Father

So do you think you'll become a TRON-ie when the popularity of TRON: Legacy grows as fast as a rampant computer virus? In a weird way, it feels like it's 1982 again, when the original TRON was released, and it quickly morphed into a pop culture icon and video game.

I'll freely admit that I popped the quarters into the TRON arcade experience that might have otherwise paid for my college education...but who cared? I was a TRON-ie and proud of it!

Now the sequel is out with incredible computer generated firepower and Jeff Bridges (looking like Obi Wan Kenobi) making a return as his original character. And yes, the TRON: Legacy brings up a few important questions:

• Why does everyone run around in cat-like unitards with glow sticks superglued all over them?
• How do computer programs end up feeling pain when they are PROGRAMS?
• Why can't I be 'derezzed' instead of, you know, like dying?
• Can I please please please have a 'light cycle' for Christmas?
• How cool is it to have Jeff Bridges and Daft Punk in the same movie?

Despite containing many of the same elements as the first TRON, there is a new plot point that wanders through the movie like a lost puppy in a crowded city. I won't give anything away, but it deserves mention because it will probably cut through some of the eye candy straight to your heart:

Father and child reunion.

So what comes to mind and memory when you think about your dad? For some there may be pain or a feeling of abandonment. For others, it can conjure up warmth and a sense that everything will be OK. And then there are countless others who probably fall right in the middle - with good and bad mixed experiences that paint a sometimes confusing picture and oftentimes leave you with a heart that is aching for a deeper and more meaningful fatherly connection.

Isn't it interesting that the God who made the universe and formed you in your mother's womb desires His children to call Him "Father"? And He does this at great risk in my opinion, because we tend to transfer our perception of and feelings about our earthly Dad towards God.

But our Heavenly Father simply cannot be put in that category, which is why Jesus tells us this amazing story to show us what God the Father is truly like:

"There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'

"So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

"That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.
"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he
ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'

"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here-given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.
The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The son said, 'Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!'
"His father said, 'Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours-but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He was lost, and he's found!'" (Luke 15:11-32).

Our Heavenly Father is not like the dad in TRON who has gone missing - nor is He like any earthly Father who oftentimes makes serious mistakes with his kids. No...God the Father is the Dad who - even when we've run far away - stands and gazes longingly at the horizon with a broken heart and a desperate hope that we will come to our senses and run to be reunited with Him.

And most importantly, this is the Father who sent His Son Jesus to die in our place for our sins so we could experience that reunion with Him by trusting in Christ for salvation.

Maybe you think God the Father has given up on you? He most certainly has not, and He waits with open arms for you to experience the deepest fatherly connection you could ever imagine.
Maybe you have friends who are struggling with choices and negative emotions? My guess is that somewhere in that mix is a broken relationship with their dads, which is why you have an amazing opportunity to tell them about our Heavenly Father who has a pounding heart and unconditional love awaiting them.

Don't be like the jealous brother...be a life saving friend!


Flash Point: Ignite into Action
At the heart of the movie TRON:Legacy is the story of a father and son being reunited after a long separation and rediscovering their relationship. Pray for an opportunity to talk to your unsaved friends about the relationship you have with your Heavenly Father that has met your need for a dad who loves you unconditionally.


Accelerant: Feed the Fire
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:25-27).

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5:7-9).


© 2010 Dare 2 Share Ministries