Into The Wild (2007)

"Into the Wild" is based on a true story and the bestselling book by Jon Krakauer. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) abandons his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.

Humans have an amazing capacity for denying our lost-ness:

That's why CS Lewis said, "No man knows how bad he is until he tries to be good…Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is…That is why bad people know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist."

Because the wages of sin is death--the consequences of our denial are serious--they are a matter of life and death….

There are a lot of people who are dying spiritually but will not give up their stubborn rebellion against God---They will only admit they are lost when they come to the end of their rope & Brennan Manning had a special prayer for them:

May all your expectations be frustrated,
may all your plans be thwarted,

may all your desires be withered into nothingness,

that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child

THEN

You will sing and dance in the love of God

who is Father, Son, and Spirit.

And today on planet Earth,

may you experience the wonder and beauty

of yourself as Abba's child

and temple of the Holy Spirit

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The apex of the story comes in Christopher’s relationship with Franz. This frail man, who has lived a lifetime alone since the death of his family many years before, is challenged to live and enjoy life by the young traveler. In turn, Franz blesses him with the wisdom and love that Chris had sought so long from his own family. Franz, brilliantly portrayed with tenderness by Holbrook, tells him: “when you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines on you.” You can nearly see the weight of the world lifted off Chris’ shoulders at these words—to him it amounts to revelation.

Saint Francis of Assisi had discovered the secret of happiness when he prayed:

O Divine Master, gran that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console,

To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

It is in dying that we are born to eternal life!

The opposite of love isn't hate. It's selfishness. Will you ask the Holy Spirit to free your life from selfishness and fill you instead with His love?