Ryan Reynolds has to be one of my all time favorite actors. From the whimsical fantasy of Free Guy to Dead Pool crassness, he is simply fabulous on so many levels. So when he was featured in a new movie with Will Ferrell, well, I simply had to check it out, right?

The main theme of Spirited is Will’s character’s quandary that as Scrooge he never really redeemed himself by truly changing. He died shortly after his renewed love of people and Christmas and so he is just not sure his redemption held true.

His “file” had been marked Unredeemable, but he changed and became kind, saving Tiny Tim and making right the wrongs he had done in his life. So when he meets Ryan Reynold’s character – also marked Unredeemable – he wants to save him to prove that his own redemption was indeed valid.

There’s just one flaw in this movie’s world view. (Well, okay there could be more, but . . . )

That flaw? The reality is we are ALL UNREDEEMABLE! None of us can redeem ourselves no matter how nice we become, how sorry we are for how we’ve been, how much we make amends to those we hurt. Hang on! Don’t go curl up in a ball and wish to die! Stay with me here!

The reality is only GOD can redeem us. From the young man hooked on drugs that died of aids, crying to my hubby, “Can God really forgive me?” to the old woman who has attended church all her life and honored God in all she did – God is one who redeems them, not their actions. They simply asked and believed and the slate was wiped completely clean.

It’s the old works argument. “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” (James 2:18) But even that young man who accepted Jesus only moments before passing into the next world is Redeemed. He didn’t have time for actions, for proving, for anything but trusting that Jesus would accept him, because that is what God promised.

The thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus didn’t have a whole lot of time to prove his faith was genuine, but Christ promised he would be with Him in paradise! (Luke 23:43)

We could have that whole “FAIRNESS” argument again about this, but to reiterate my conclusion from back then, to receive what is FAIR we would all burn in hell, so “Thank you, Lord Jesus, that life is NOT FAIR!!”

Yes, Will, Ryan, we are ALL Unredeemable! And yet Jesus offers us the free gift of Redemption. None of us, whether at the start of our lives, in the middle of our lives or at the very end of our lives, NONE of us deserve Redemption, nor can we earn it, but Christ still offers it willingly, freely, without hesitation!

Some of us will accept Him quite young and spend years and years being transformed by the renewing of our minds. Some of us will only have a few minutes, if that, before the life in this world is snuffed out of us.

It isn’t acts of kindness that redeem us. It isn’t how much we start caring about the people around us that redeem us. It isn’t how much we change that redeems us.

Nope.

But . . .

If we accept the gift of salvation through believing in Jesus as our Savior, then we allow him to start transforming us from the inside out and people see those changes (hopefully) as evidence of the work that Christ has done in us on our behalf!

It’s a difficult line to tip toe around, I know, but actions are a result of our Redemption, the fruit of the work of the Spirit in us, NOT works that Redeem us in the end. Simple as that.

So, sorry Ryan, Will, writers of “Spirited,” Sean Anders & John Morris, your idea is great, just not quite hitting the mark. At all. Totally nope. Nuh uh.

And, I know, your world view is not the same as mine, which is why you came up with the idea in the first place, but thanks for reminding me that the Truth is quite different.

Thanks for motivating me to think about how amazing it is that the Lord of all creation would humble Himself to live through being human in order to die as the perfect sacrifice to atone for all sin for all mankind, so that I,

the Unredeemable,

might be

REDEEMED!

In case you want to check out the song, see a bit of the tension built into the movie, here is the song from it called, “Unredeemable:”