What I Learned About Ministry from “The Hurt Locker”

*Disclaimer: if you haven’t seen it and want to, you may want to stop here. Possible spoiler alert.

So I just saw The Hurt Locker last night.

Powerful movie. Lots of fast camera work. It’s an edge of the seat-er. It is also a war movie so there is pervasive language and war violence throughout so think that through and whether or not your conscience is clear before you get it.

Though I don’t know if it lives up to the “best picture hype,” it is a profound movie. In fact, I would even call it a “film.”

Throughout the film, I found myself continually praying for our troops abroad, the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and the fallen world in general. I also found my heart hurting for the men and women who serve and daily see their friends blown to bits in scenarios just like the ones portrayed.

The characters drew me in as well.

The more I watched, the more I began to wonder why the lead guy is so gung-ho about running into the face of danger. Most of the time, his motives seem reasonable but after the 15th bomb or so you begin to wonder how he can run headlong into the fight and not think of his girlfriend and baby back home.. There is even a scene toward the end in which he  has a moment where he begins to wonder the same thing but he has no answer.

Suddenly I remember the opening quote about war being a drug.

And the scene at the end when the lead explains to his baby that he really only loves one thing in life…defusing bombs…or at least the rush from doing so…and then he hops back on the plane doubtlessly feeling god-like.

And that’s when I thought about pastors.

If we are honest with ourselves, how many of us would be guilty of doing something similar in ministry?

• Doing the right thing for the wrong reason.
• Forsaking our first (Jesus), second (wife), and third (children) loves for our love of ministry–or at least the applause that can come from doing ministry.
• The rush we get when we “save the day.”

Every pastor knows what I am talking about.

I also thought that if there were to be a part two of The Hurt Locker story, I bet it would have a woman who got tired of waiting, a jacked up kid who never knew his dad and a man with a lot of regrets.

And I thought about pastors again.

And through that lens, I think it is worth our stopping to ask a couple of hard questions:

If we were to watch a movie of our lives and ministries today, what would it look like? Like the life of Jesus or like the story of an adrenaline junkie who thinks mostly of himself?

If there was a sequel, what would it portray?

You know it  is the decisions we are making today that are making those movies already.

Stop.

Reflect.

Pray.

And know that I am praying for you and myself today that we all do the right things for the right reasons instead of blowing ourselves and our families to smithereens in the process of “doing God’s work.”