I've always loved fantasy.
I watched Narnia from the age of four.
Read The Lord of the Rings steadily in the 6th grade.
Checked out nearly every movie in the sci-fi section at the local movie rental.
I memorized the Lady of Shallott and am not ashamed to admit that.
Kings, queens, good vs. evil, dragons, knights...everything. I love it all.
In the past few years I haven't been immersed in the excitement of a good fantasy tale and had forgotten how much it thrills me. However, a good friend of mine told me I should check out the TV show "Once Upon a Time." Needless to say, I swiftly embarked on a Netflix kick like none other and every episode I could in a two week spance.
I was slightly embarrassed by my love for the show (and all fairy tales in general) until I realized that I was more or less watching the basics of human life. In the TV show there is a serious, plain battle of good vs. evil. There is good magic and there is bad magic. There are bad people who do bad things and there are good people who do good things but sometimes mess up and still do bad things. There are heroes and there are villians. There's one person who knows the end of the story and that is the person who created the "evil", and they know their time is running short...
There is good in THIS world and there is evil. There are people who do good in this world and there are people who do evil. Really, we can all know the end of the story - if we choose to believe it - and know which side is victorious. Satan knows that his time is limited. He knows that God will ultimately defeat him one day, and his goal now is to try and bring as many of the people that God loves down with him.
I've looked back at my life over the past few years and there haven't been any times where I've distinctly noticed Satan trying to pull me away from God. There's no memories of a man in a sneaky black suit telling me to sin. No images of drugs, alcohol, and other things dancing through my mind enticing me to a world of drunkenness and debauchery. However, I can look back and see complacency, anger, hate, and selfishness drawing me away from my God. I can see them weighing me down like a rock and stopping me from serving and loving the God who made me. When I allow my own selfishness and desires to stop me from loving others and from loving God...I'm letting Satan win. In a small way I'm letting evil triumph over good for that moment.
I think that fantasy stories have always excited me because I saw people fighting for the things they cared about. There's always true joy and love and friendship, and I love that. I love all things happy. I love to see evil people turn to the light and "small" people turn into heroes. And in a sense that's what God does. And that is incredible. So, I'm not so ashamed of my love for fairy tale characters and ridiculous fights of good vs. evil...because I want my life to be a fight of good vs. evil. I don't want Satan to win over my friends or my family. I don't want him to have a foothold in my world. So just like the characters I have loved my whole life I want to be one who will fight when called upon. I want to be prepared for the day when God calls me to stand up for Him - no matter what the cost.
"Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the spiritual forces of darkness in this world..." Ephesians 6:12
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