Disney’s Lion King has some great theological tie-ins, perhaps more than any other film I have seen. It is rich in content and many biblical life-lessons could be lifted from its script. For me, the main message deals with breaking away from shame and stepping into your God-given identity and destiny.
As the movie opens, we meet the Lion King, Mufasa and his jealous, evil brother, Scar. Scar counted on assuming the throne when his brother would pass on, but a son was born to Mufasa, a prince who would ascend to the throne as his father’s heir. The prince’s name was Simba. Simba’s arrival messed with Scar’s plan to become King, so the plot to remove him and the plot to remove his father, Simba, was set into motion.
Scar set the little prince up. He put him in harm’s way on purpose, in the middle of a wildebeest stampede, knowing that his Lion-King father would come to his rescue which would then put the Lion-King in harm’s way as well. The Lion-King managed to escape the stampede by slowly climbing up the side of a rock cliff, but when he reached the top and needed a final help up, his brother, Scar, pushed him off the cliff and he fell to his death.
Scar then found the young prince and made sure the prince believed his father’s death was his fault. He said he should be ashamed for putting his father into a situation that would have required his father to come after him to save him. The young, vulnerable lion, believing the lie that his father’s death was his fault, asked his Uncle Scar what he should do? Scar’s response was the textbook response to shame. This is what he said, “Run away, Simba. Run away, and never return.” And Simba did. He ran away. He ran away from the Pridelands. He ran away from his family. He ran away from the lioness who was intended to become his queen. He ran away from his calling to be the King. He ran away and lived in the shadows far away, draped in the cloak of shame.
As I see it, Uncle Scar is a lot like the enemy you and I face. He is a lot like Satan. We know from John 10:10 that Satan’s agenda is to steal, kill and destroy people, and one way he does that is through the shackles of shame. If Satan can’t destroy your faith in the Resurrection of Jesus, he tries to destroy your spirit, your potential by getting you to focus on yourself, your frailties and your failures and wants you to feel unworthy and disqualified to step into your God-given destiny. He often does that by getting us to believe a lie.
The Bible tells us we can know the truth. We can be freed by the truth. God is giving you authority and permission to throw off the shackles of shame by the truth of God’s Word. You are not what was done to you. You are not what happened to you when you were a child. You do not even have to be defined by what you have done. God can bring healing and transformation to your life and give you a brand new identity and help you discover the identity you were born to assume. Simba was born a prince, but he lived ashamed and unable to occupy the place he was meant to occupy in life until he took three steps:
- He willingly shared his story. He finally broke his silence about his young childhood, about believing that his actions had led to his father’s death. What you confess cannot have power over you.
- He took the risk to come home. Community, a Christian community has healing properties to help you recover and rediscover God’s love. Only when he came home did he learn the truth!
- He replaced the lies he had believed with the truth that set him free. What you have done may be part of your story, but it doesn’t have to control you or your future. Christ came to set us free, and as we go through life, we may need freed more than once.
Don’t you think it is time to end the shame game? You have power and authority to tell Satan to run away, to tell shame to run away and to never return.
