A movie worth seeing

Today, I opted to treat myself to a little pre-birthday fun - a midday movie at Southpoint Mall in Durham. I had heard a lot about the movie “Amazing Grace,” and I decided to go see it. After watching the movie, I made a wise choice in seeing Grace instead of Wild Hogs or any of the other films out currently.

The movie tells of the story of William Wilberforce, the British politician who fought the slave trade and eventually secured its defeat. Throughout the movie, you see Wilberforce struggling with the defeats his bills had in the House of Parliament to end slavery. He also struggled with doing God’s will while serving as a politician. There is a powerful scene where Wilberforce is having dinner with abolitionists when they learned of his internal battle between serving God and political activism, one lady looks at him and said, “We humbly suggest that you can do both.”

There are other moments in the movie that take you back, the images of slavery, the determination by Wilberforce and his family to end slavery, and the stubbornness of some not to let slavery end. John Newton, who penned Amazing Grace, is featured prominently in the film. There is a scene where Newton, going blind, is dictating his memoirs and confession of his life as a slave trader. Newton says, “I was blind but now I see. Did I write that?” When Wilberforce confirms it to be so, Newton follows by saying “Well, now it is true.”

Amazing.

So is the line in that scene before hand where Newton says, “My memory is fading, but there are two things that I remember. I am a great sinner, and Christ is a Great Savior.”

Amen.

The movie will play at your heartstrings and hopefully it will make you consider your life and how you can let God play in your profession. It will make you cry. It will make you think. And it will lead you to praise God for the transformation that comes through accepting Christ as our Savior.

So, go, see the movie. Take your family. Take your friends. But see this movie and learn from it.