Based on a True Story

I like to watch movies based on true stories. Recently, I saw for the first time the movie, "Music from the Heart." It is the amazing story of Roberta Guaspari who started an amazing violin program in East Harlem.

Most of the time, these kinds of movies inspire us. That is certainly the case with the movie, "Miracle," one of my favorites. It is based on the true story of the USA Olympic Hockey Team in 1980.

But, my all time favorite is "Seabiscuit." To watch and see the three main character's lives change is remarkable. I love the line in the movie, which comes up at least twice: "You don't throw away a whole life just because it's banged up a little."

Movies like that really can inspire us, can't they? We think, "If Roberta could accomplish all of that she did with so many obstacles to overcome, then I can accomplish what I want to as well."

"If the USA could beat the unbeatable Russians, then I can win and be successful too."

"If Charles Howard could regroup after all that he went through, well then, so can I. If Tom Smith could find a new direction and purpose, so can I. If Red Pollard could let go of his past and become who he really wants to be, then so can I."

My point is that if movies based on true stories inspire us, why shouldn't the stories in the Bible inspire us as well? Too often, Biblical stories are dismissed as fables, myths, or, just something that somebody made up.

Movies about true stories are identified as, "based on a true story." The records you read in the Bible are not just based on a true story; they are the actual and real true stories! No embellishment, no Hollywood additions, no adapting the screenplay was necessary to make it fit into a ninety minute time frame. What you read is what really happened.

Many of those stories have a miraculous triumph or a supernatural event in the story. Perhaps that's why some people might just dismiss the story. They think that something like that could ever happen.

If movies based on true stories can inspire people, just think how much more the true stories in the Bible could inspire people, if they only accepted them as being true. They could really lift a person's confidence toward God to new heights.

One of those stories is about a woman and her son who found themselves right in the middle of a famine. This was something completely out of their control. They didn't cause the famine. But there they were with no food.

It had come down to the woman having only a little bit of food left for one more meal. She was going to prepare it for her and her son, eat the meal, and then die. That was it.

But then, God did something remarkable. The woman shared some of her last bit of food with a man of God. He then stayed with her for over a year, and during that time, that little bit of food never ran out. All around her was famine and starvation, but in her house, day after day, there was food to eat.

How inspiring is that record if you choose to believe that it really is true? How much more confidence in God does that give you in light of your own circumstances? How much more trust in God to help you supply what you need does that give you?

If He did it for her, then He could do it for me too.

On the other hand, if you choose to not believe it, what does that story do for you? Absolutely nothing, it is just entertainment.

One must wonder and ponder carefully why there are such records in the Bible. Are they there for our amusement? Are they there make the book bigger and more impressive? Are they there because someone had a wild imagination?

Or, are they divinely inspired and placed so that those who want to have more confidence and trust in a powerful and delivering God can read them, get inspired, and grow in their confidence and trust in God?