Earlier this week I examined Barnum’s life in The Greatest Showman. Like all of us, his life is a combination of success and failure. He is driven by dreams and aspirations, but is at the same time driven by the need to “measure up.” His father-in-law (the same man who mistreats him when he’s child), has never approved of him because of his background and profession. There are heartbreaking scenes in the movie where Barnum is accepted by his father-in-law one minute and rejected the next and where Barnum’s daughter is rejected by her dance troupe despite being an excellent dancer. Her family’s humble beginnings put a wall between her and society.
No one wants to be rejected. We all want to be accepted for who we are. However, we should stop trying to measure up to the world’s standards. There are really only two kinds of people in this world—those who are still caught up in the game of trying to be something they’re not and to please people who cannot be pleased, and those who stop playing that game and turn to Jesus (those who think they are doing just fine without God and those who come to know their need for Jesus above all else).
Some people go through their lives and never ever feel the need for God, but most go back and forth between thinking the world’s way is going to deliver on its promises of happiness and fulfillment and the realization that it never can. Nearly every character in The Greatest Showman is faced with a dilemma. When I first watched it, I thought it was only Mr. Carlisle. Then I saw Barnum wrestling with it too as he tries to prove he’s more than the son of a tailor. Even though she is a successful singer, Jenny Lind wrestles with her identity and ability to measure up because of being born out of wedlock. Charity, Barnum’s wife, is affected by her father as a child. He says she doesn’t behave well enough and needs to attend finishing school. The list goes on. People hurt people. People try to please each other and prove their worth to each other.
We could all benefit from examining Scripture on this. In Matthew 19, a man asks Jesus what he needs to do to live forever. Jesus tells him to obey God’s commands and also says, “’Go and sell everything you have, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” The man is wealthy and doesn’t feel this is something he can do. He chooses the things of this world over God. This is what happens to us when we care more about measuring up to the world’s standards than we do about God’s standards.
I hope this is encouraging to you—that you are not alone in your struggles and that fulfillment CAN be found by seeking God. I look forward to examining more movies in our “At the Movies” series!