Zootopia: Stigma and Prejudice

 

Hey guys,

Have you all seen the movie Zootopia? It's fairly new and just came out on Netflix so I suggest you watch it before and/or after you read this post. I don't think I've ever talked about a movie before but I am going to today because this movie is extremely interesting and has a lot of hidden meaning, like children's movies did back in the 80s and 90s. First things first, the animation was great and the characters were great and the movie really had a deep message that relates to the society we're living in today. What do I mean by this? Well, I'm glad you asked.

1.) Officer Judy Hopps is a rabbit who has big dreams and everyone (even her parents) tell her that she can't do it because she is a rabbit. Similarly, in today's society many people are told that they can't live out their dreams because of race, gender, religion and socio-economic status. This is just wrong and Judy proves to everyone that with enough hard work anyone can live their dreams, even if other mammals still do not believe in her after she gets her badge.

2.) Nick Wilde is a fox and because of his heritage people ostracize him and categorize him. He can't help his species (race) but he is consistently judged by it.

3.) Because of the stigma he faces Nick decides that he won't show emotion anymore, that he won't let anyone see the pain he feels. He also decides that "if the world is only going to see a fox as shifty and untrustworthy, there's no point in trying to be anything else". Isn't that deep!!!!

4.) People easily begin to distrust predators because of one person (or bunny) and that distrust turns into hate and resentment. This shows how just one person can really change the climate of a society. People who were once friends with predators now ignore them or don't let their children near them. One person's words had such a huge and negative impact.

These are just four of the ways I think Zootopia looks at the racial, gender, ethnic and other stigmas that pervade our world today. The fact that Disney chose to include these things in an animated movie is amazing because this is a movie that teaches the youth something.

Seeking God

So, I have been thinking about the whole idea of the word "seek" for a few weeks and yesterday God gave me the understanding I needed. So below is what I learned yesterday on seeking and this morning on calling. The parentheses come from the Strong's reference number if you want to look it up. For those who know Hebrew and Greek, I apologize but I have no idea how to make accents on this thing.

Seek (1875)
Hebrew- darash: to tread; frequent; follow; pursue; search out; to diligently inquire
Seek (1245)
Hebrew-baqash: to search out (in worship and prayer); to strive after; to ask/beseech/ beg/enquire; to make inquisition; to require

These two words are intentional. They both mean "seek" bit tjere are other words with the same meaning that sound reactional not proactive like these two. God wants us to diligently inquire after Him and search Him out. This means we must go to Him in praise, worship and prayer, striving after a relationship with Him. Baqash means to ask and to beg. We must need God and His love, mercy and grace. It can't just be a fleeting want. I have to be desperate for one on one time with my Lord. In Isaiah 55:6 it is darash meaning to follow and search out. I think this is interesting because yes, there are times where we must wait on the Lord but there are other times we have to move and get up and Seek His face. Darash is also a very vocalized thing, it isn't seeking primarily in prayer and worship like baqash, it is real life calling out for God. It's like a real intense game of man hunt.

Isaiah 55:6
"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:"

Does this verse mean that God is hiding from us? Or does He just want to see if His children love Him enough to seek His face when He's not standing right beside them catering to their every need? Isaiah tells us to seek Him and call upon Him, both very intentional. This entire year the theme I keep going back to is intentionality. God is intentional and as we are made in His likeness we should also be intentional. This weans we can't be reactive, Don't just wait for issues and situations to come up in your life and react by reaching out to God. Seek God first (proactively) so that when those issues come up you're not even stressed because you've spent enough time with God to know He's going to take care of everything.

Seek and Call!

There's a song and some of the lyrics are "call out His name, (Jesus), and He will run to you". That's what I'm reminded of here. If you are truly purposeful in your pursuit of God, He won't walk to answer you, He'll run. That's just who He is and how much He loves to hear us calling on Him and wanting to know Him.

Now that I meditate on it I think that the reason David was a man after God's own heart was because He truly yearned to know the Lord and have a personal relationship with Him. He was always intentional about His faith and because of that His heart was in a good place even though he messed up and sinned big time.

One of the definitions of barash is to tread. I think that, in context, this means treading in the Lord's footsteps. Following Him wherever He goes. In real life having someone always behind you would be annoying and creepy but that is something God wants us to do with Him. If we're to be His sheep we must follow Him. This is something I'm going to pray on and look at more thoroughly in the next few weeks.

Call (7121)
Hebrew- qara: to call out to; address by name; to cry unto
Call (2753)
Greek- keievo: to hail, to bid

Isaiah 58:9
Call upon the Lord and He'll answer, cry unto Him and He'll be there.

Cry (7768)
Hebrew- shava': to shout; halloo for help or freedom

Isaiah 58
We must be wary of our spiritual lethargy.
Lethargy- the state of being drowsy/dull/ listless/ unenergetic or indifferent and lazy; apathetic/sluggish inactivity.

Isaiah 58:1-3
The people don't even realize they are spiritually lethargic. God has to ask Isaiah to show it to them. The thing to note here is that the people were still performing religious acts, doing the rituals set out in the Torah (the first five books) but they really were only going through the motions. I think this is important because going through the motions i.e. attending services, giving to the poor, does not mean anything if your heart is not where it should be. Lethargy is the state of being unenergetic. Spiritual lethargy is the same thing in regards to faith. A spiritually lethargic person is not, necessarily, someone who has no presence in the church. A spiritually lethargic person is one who does not truly seek God's will. (It's amazing how everything in the Bible relates to something else.) The people Isaiah is asked to minister to perform tons of religious acts but they do it for themselves, not God's glory. They are even so proud as to get upset with God for not noting their acts, their performance.

Lethargy is the complete opposite of intentionality. A lethargic person doesn't call out to God, they are reactive if they are active at all. They are completely indifferent about the state of their relationship with God. One thing I want to note is that this is a state of being, it isn't permanent. Lethargy is like complacency in whatever spiritual position you're in, not yearning to grow or mature. Because it is only a state of being anyone can fall into it and many don't realize they do, like the Israelites. That's why it's important to have Christ-like people around you, not just in your circle but your circle as a whole. They'll be there to notice your lethargy and pull you out of it. It shouldn't take a revival or some famous preacher or a conference for us to to want to build our relationship with God. There are times we don't realize we're stagnant and that's why we must try our hardest to seek God and be intentional about our faith!

The Hustle In Me

Trying to grind my way up

This isn't going to be a long post where I talk about my innermost feelings in detail but there is something I want you people out there to know. I can't do anything by myself. And when I try I usually end up making things worse then they were when I started out. I think that I can do it on my own and figure things out for myself. I am an independent woman, I don't need anyone's help! And then it is like walking up the down escalator or climbing a wet metal slide in the summer. Pointless and painful.

And then it's like when you do something our mom specifically told you not to do and end up getting hurt and says. "See, I told you what would happen. Ain't no point in crying now, that's what you get." The cool thing is that even though I know I deserved it for being an idiot and God knows, He'll never be like, "I told you so." Isn't God amaze-balls? Yes, I said amaze-balls. Get over it. God doesn't hold our failures over our heads, he picks us back up and tells us that if we focus our energy and attention on Him we don't have to keep falling into traps along the wayside. All He wants us to do is pay attention to Him and isn't that what we should be doing anyway? No shade, because we all do it, but I want to be 100% real with everyone out there. I don't do it all the time but I should and it's going to take some time but I'm willing to put in the work.

Psalm 121:1-2
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. (2) My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth."

If we know where our help comes from why don't we focus on that instead of our problems? How many people out there have heard these two verses but had no idea where they came from? Hebrews 12:1-2 talks about the race we all have to run. We have to lay aside the weights and the sin that keep us from having faith in God and what He has said. We do this by gaining endurance in our faith, by living it out everyday. When you practice having faith, soon you won't have to practice it anymore and you can run the race with your eyes on the Godhead instead of turning to every distraction that pops up.

 Sometimes you hear things over and over and begin to get desensitized to it but never allow yourself to stop taking the Word seriously. It is our instruction manual for life and without it would be like putting together a German IKEA table with no help. And I cannot even imagine doing that.

I don't have to struggle and work to do things all on my own, I have God and an army of angels supporting me. I have a direct line to the Creator when I am in need or want to talk. I have so much support there is no reason for me to do things on my own. Even though I feel like sometimes God is taking too long or isn't following my directions specifically. Focus on God and depend on Him for all your needs even if your inner hustle is telling you you can do it on your own.

Remember this:


Faith doesn't make things easy but it does make them possible and when we have enough faith to stay focused on Him, when we believe in the authority of the Lord it changes us. Ask yourself this question: Am I crazy enough to believe Him? Are you? If you are you won't keep thinking that you can do it on your own or that you can do it better than God. I know that at times I'm so focused on my hustle that I don't give my God the attention and time He deserves. And you can't have a relationship with someone if you never spend time with them. So I will continue to work on my faith and focus on the Lord who wants us to praise like it is already done.

This is the song of the day: Focus by Jor'dan Armstrong

If you have anything you want me to talk about feel free to comment and let me know. I am all for suggestions.