My kids enjoy movies with bad guys and good guys. They are traditionalists at heart, believing the good guys should win, and walk into the sunset with the promise of a ‘happily ever after’. This theme is present in many of the books we have read as well. Although, as they get older, the plots have evolved to be more complicated: the bad guys are sometimes harder to spot, while the good guys face trials and temptations. Through the struggle, character traits of diligence, courage, truth, wisdom and more begin to shine through.

Is it really that different in real life? Growing up in a Christian home, things seemed straight-forward: God: good. Satan: bad. But life got complicated, and things did not seem as simple after a while. The black and white of good and evil began to swirl into a confounding gray. Sin sometimes feels good. Good people get sick, lose their jobs, their marriages or their kids. Sometimes good people get caught in the bad and disappointment and despair ensues. Sometimes bad people thrive. Their traits don’t match the ones the Bible tells us to pursue, and yet it seems like everything in their life is going well.

In C.S. Lewis’ book the Screwtape Letters, he imagines a demon-in-training receiving letters from his wiser and more knowledgeable mentor. The older of the two has studied human nature well, he knows that we are like dust (Psalm 103:14). He knows we will not live forever but he is baffled as to why, even when we sin, God continues to love us and want a relationship with us. He writes to his understudy, “He really likes the little vermin, and sets an absurd value on the distinctness of every one of them.” (Lewis, 59)

He doesn’t genuinely love us or want the best for us. The temptations he offers seem appealing, but ultimately, he hates us because he hates God. On the other hand, God is hell-bent on spending eternity with us, and wants to give us an abundantly full life. Of course, this doesn’t mean that if you ask him to forgive your sins and ask him to be a part of your life, life will always be easy. As crazy as it may sound, Romans 5:2-5 says, “we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

God sees a value in us that the enemy sees as ludicrous. God loves us with an everlasting love, and He sent his son to die for our sins so that we could enjoy that final scene of walking confidently into the sunset with him.