![\"Maleficent\"](\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133747\/Maleficent.jpg\" "\\"Maleficent\\"")
Most of us love a good villain.\u00a0 Oxymoronic, isn’t it?\u00a0 Good villain.<\/p>\nMost of us love a good villain.\u00a0 Oxymoronic, isn’t it?\u00a0 Good villain.<\/p>\n
Maybe we love them because the really good villains do the things that no one would ever do.\u00a0 Maybe we love them because their motivations and methods are so over-the-top heartless that they become almost comical.\u00a0 Maybe we love them because we, sinners that we are, look pretty good in comparison.<\/p>\n
Over the years, Hollywood (and the literature on which its films are based) has given us a lot of good villains.\u00a0 Darth Vader, the Joker, Sauron, and “he who must not be named” are all great examples.\u00a0 But if you ask me, the most deliciously wicked of them all are the Disney villains.<\/p>\n
In a recent poll, people were asked to select the most evil Disney villain of all time.\u00a0 Some of the favorites included Scar from The Lion King, the wicked stepmother from Cinderella, and Ursula from The Little Mermaid.\u00a0 But the villain who topped the list–Disney’s most wicked–was Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent.<\/p>\n
The name alone says it all.\u00a0 If you look up “maleficent” in the dictionary you find that it means “harmful or evil in intent or effect.”\u00a0 What a perfect description of this villainess.\u00a0 She is wickedness personified, and her every word drips with malevolence.<\/p>\n
But is it possible that Maleficent–in all her rotten majesty–is actually an animated version of you?\u00a0 (Sounds like your classic pastoral trap, doesn’t it?)\u00a0 The sad reality is that many of us are probably more like Maleficent than we even realize.<\/p>\n
Take a look at the video below.\u00a0\u00a0 In this clip, Maleficent crashes the party being thrown by the king and queen to celebrate their daughter Aurora’s\u00a0 birth.\u00a0 As you watch, try to answer these questions:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 Why did Maleficent crash the party?
\n2.\u00a0 What do you think Maleficent was thinking?
\n3.\u00a0 How did Maleficent\u2019s thinking affect her actions?<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kCV0hy6ex1c<\/p>\n
So, the first question is pretty easy to answer.\u00a0 Why did Maleficent crash the party?\u00a0 Because she wasn’t invited.<\/p>\n
Questions 2 and 3 require just a little more thought.\u00a0 When Maleficent didn’t receive an invitation, she probably felt rejected, jealous, angry, and perhaps even hurt.\u00a0 At that point, she had a choice to make.\u00a0 She had to choose what she would think about her situation.<\/p>\n
She could have chosen to trust in the sovereign plan of God and used the situation as an opportunity to examine her relationship with the king and queen.\u00a0 Maybe she hadn’t been a good ally to the royal family.\u00a0 Maybe her past actions had alienated her from the\u00a0noble people of the kingdom.\u00a0 Maybe she needed to repent of her wicked lifestyle of fear-mongering and power-grabbing.\u00a0 Instead of playing the evil sorceress across the moat, maybe she needed to become a resource for good by using her position to meet the pressing needs within her community.<\/p>\n
However, based on her actions, I think it’s safe to say that Maleficent didn’t choose that line of thinking.\u00a0 It’s likely that she began to think things like “How dare they treat me like this,”\u00a0 “I’ll show them,” or “They’ll be sorry.”\u00a0 And it was this kind of thinking that prompted her lash out in revenge.<\/p>\n
I doubt you’ve ever reacted to a personal slight by finding the nearest baby and placing a curse on it.\u00a0 But I wonder if you’ve ever responded to someone who offended you by trying to take that person down a peg or two.<\/p>\n
Maybe someone embarrassed you, and in response, you tried to embarrass them.\u00a0 Maybe someone failed to fulfill a promise they made to you, and you reacted by returning the favor.\u00a0 Maybe someone simply didn’t show you the attention you thought you deserved, and you chose to respond by giving them the cold shoulder.<\/p>\n
When we make choices like this–ridiculous though it may seem–we behave just like Maleficent.\u00a0 We become a Disney villain.\u00a0 And it all begins with our thinking.<\/p>\n
Vindictive, hurtful thinking usually takes place when someone commits an offense against us\u2014or when we simply imagine that someone has offended us.\u00a0 And like Maleficent, once we believe that someone has offended us,\u00a0 we begin thinking things like “They can’t treat me that way” or “I know just what I\u2019ll say to them, if that ever happens again.”\u00a0 We can even get caught up in the fantasy of devising what we might do to them if we ever got the chance.<\/p>\n
Jesus addressed this kind of thinking in a pretty direct way.<\/p>\n
Matthew 5:21-22
\nYou have heard that it was said to the people long ago, \u201cDo not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.\u201d\u00a0 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nNow, murder is a bad thing, right?\u00a0 We can all agree on that.<\/p>\n
Jesus says that anyone who murders is subject to judgment.\u00a0 That means anyone who commits murder is guilty of breaking the law and deserves to be punished.\u00a0 But Jesus takes it a step further and says that \u201canyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, He says that anybody who thinks hurtful thoughts about someone else deserves punishment just as much as a murderer.<\/p>\n
Now, that\u2019s pretty extreme, but Christ’s logic tells us that our actions are a direct result of our thinking.\u00a0 Hurtful thinking leads to all kinds of destructive behavior.\u00a0 Hurtful thinking is the cause of every cruel word ever spoken, every punch ever thrown, every murder ever committed.\u00a0 The book of Proverbs also makes this point when it says,<\/p>\n
Proverbs 23:7
\nAs a man thinks in his heart, so he is.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHave you ever gotten into an argument with someone and later thought to yourself, \u201cOh, I should have said this.\u00a0 That would have really gotten them!\u201d\u00a0 Have you ever found yourself playing out an argument in your head when preparing to talk to someone.\u00a0 You might have thought things like \u201cIf they say this, then I\u2019ll say that, and that\u2019ll really stick it to them.\u201d\u00a0 Have you ever done that?<\/p>\n
Just like Maleficent, when we allow vengeful thinking to take place in our minds, we can find ourselves returning evil for evil rather than seeking the best interests of others as God intends.<\/p>\n
For Further Consideration<\/h2>\n
Let\u2019s get practical.\u00a0 Check out the scenarios below.\u00a0 And for each of these scenarios, answer each of the following questions:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 Did the person’s thinking and actions honor God?
\n2.\u00a0 How did hurtful thinking affect the person\u2019s behavior?
\n3.\u00a0 What kinds of thoughts could have helped the situation?<\/p>\nScenario #1
\n<\/strong>Jamie was playing basketball on the playground at school.\u00a0 One of Jamie’s “friends,” Aaron, came up and started making fun of his haircut.\u00a0 Jamie laughed it off until recess ended.\u00a0 As they were walking back inside to their classes, Jamie thought, “I wish Aaron would just trip in front of everyone else.”\u00a0 The students stopped to get a drink at the drinking fountain.\u00a0 As Jamie walked by, Jamie noticed that the teachers weren\u2019t looking.\u00a0 Seeing the opportunity, Jamie kicked Aaron in the back of the leg just enough to make Aaron fall, but sly enough so that no one saw.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=faithminis-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0963172506\")
.\u00a0W<\/em>e\u2019re encouraging students to recognize the sinful patterns of thinking that exist in their lives and to replace those patterns with the forms of thinking outlined in Philippians 4:8.\u00a0 The goal of this study is to help kids use their minds in ways that will produce godly habits of living. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"