This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.
Ralph had a choice to make. Would he help Vanellope or would he pursue his own desire, to take a hero’s medal back to Fix-it Felix, Jr and join the community?
While Spider-man sacrificed his wants, Ralph chose to sacrifice his life.
King Candy, now the “Lord of the Flies” bug-like creature, has Ralph high above Candy Crush. Vanellope, who cannot leave the game, is about to die at the hands claws of the demon-like bugs from the game Hero’s Duty.
Ralph knows that the bugs are drawn to light, that if he can crash the Mentos into the Coke River, then he can erupt the volcano and draw the bugs away from Vanellope.
The catch, however, is that he would have to sacrifice himself. And that is what he does.
Ralph breaks free of King Candy and falls to (what he thinks will be) his death. On the way down he crashes through the Mentos, igniting the Mentos/Coke volcano.
This is exactly the attitude that Jesus has in Philippians 2.
Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:3-8)
Ralph, like Jesus, thought of others – specifically Vanellope – as more important than himself.
Ralph, like Jesus, emptied himself of his own desire – to go home a hero – and became a servant, serving Vanellope to the point of death.
(Yea, I know he didn’t die, but he thought he was going to die. He was willing to die and chose to sacrifice himself thinking he would die.)
This is how Jesus loves you.
Jesus emptied and humbled himself for you.
But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Today, instead of thinking of what you need to sacrifice, thank God – thank Jesus – for what he did for you!
This is part of Emptied & Humbled, a movie based Lenten devotional. The whole devotional can be found here.
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Simon L Smith