Aside from being a great movie in my opinion, Marvel's "Black Panther" also gave me a few realizations regarding several things.
This top-grossing film, one that reached 97% in Rotten Tomatoes' "Tomatometer," wasn't a Christian movie, but still gave me a few faith lessons, which I am going to share with you in this article.
Without further ado, here are a few Biblical realizations from a totally non-Christian film, "Black Panther."
1) We need to stand on our identity
T'Challa may be a fictional character ruling and defending a fictional nation using fictional technologies, but the lessons we can learn from him with regards to identity is really astounding.
As Christians, we need to be proud of our identity in Christ. By saying "proud" I didn't mean "boastful" or "arrogant." I meant "unashamed" and "confident."
Many Christians today shy away from preaching Christ to others. We tend to shut up in matters of faith so that we can blend in with the people we want to belong with. Worse, we choose to please men so that we can feel accepted, and even deny our relationship with Christ because the unsaved think it is "weird."
The fictional Wakandans aren't ashamed of who they are, even if they're just from a comic book. As Christians, we're far more blessed than any others -- we have God. We must never be ashamed of that. (see Romans 1:16-17)
2) We must be concerned with others, especially their salvation
Fictional Wakanda is securely hidden from the world. It's because they want to keep their technology and precious Vibranium away from others, particularly those who are greedy.
(Spoiler alert)
Nakia, T'Challa's love interest, had a desire to reach out to those outside Wakanda. Eventually she was given the role of leading Wakanda's outreach to other nations.
Many Christians ought to learn from this. Many of us are happy staying inside the four walls of the church, rejoicing in the fact that we're saved, and obviously waiting for Christ to come back.
But weren't we commanded to go and preach the Gospel to all, and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey the teachings of Christ? (see Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:18-20)
We have the hope of glory, the Savior of the world living in us; do we allow Him to shine through us? (see Colossians 1:27; Isaiah 60:1-3)
3) We'll always have an enemy trying to overthrow our identity in Christ
The movie had a great villain, a Wakandan named Erik Killmonger. This guy was T'Challa's very cousin, one who almost killed the hero in an attempt to hijack the throne.
We have Satan and his minions continuously trying to steal from us, kill us (or our testimonies), and destroy our lives. That's his role in our lives (see John 10:10).
We have to understand that the devil will do his best to take control over our lives, and he will use everything at his disposal to do it: incite fear, tempt us to sin, condemn us, harass us, and other things.
We've got to stand on the truth that if we're in Christ, we've already been transferred from the dominion of darkness and into the Kingdom of God's dear Son. (see Colossians 1:13)
Christ won and secured the victory for us on the cross and the empty tomb. All we need to do is to stand on His truth.
