Miracle Max: It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there’s usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya: What’s that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.
The above excerpt appears in a movie classic, “The Princess Bride.” Some of my friends introduced me to the film in college many moons ago. (If I remember correctly, a character says one profane word at the end of the movie, otherwise the flick receives a family friendly rating from me.) Concerning the opening quoted conversation, truly there exists a difference between “mostly dead” and “all dead.” “Mostly dead” insinuates the potential for life. “All dead” portends the absence of hope…the scrounging for loose change a lousy substitute for life.
But, the Christian life often portrays the great reversal. When walking with Christ, “mostly dead” people continue to cling to worldly offerings.
For analogical purposes, one might better picture the Christian life as a house. The owner of the house invites Christ’s presence into the family room, the living room and the dining room, but bars the doors to the bedrooms and barricades admittance to the home office. Christ owns access to most of the house, a substantial portion of the square footage of the dwelling, but God desires to hold the keys to the rooms in which we deny Him access.
And the spiritual lesson between the “mostly dead” and “all dead” emerges.
In Galatians 2:20 Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me.”
God instructs through the Apostle Paul that “mostly dead” falls short of His plan for our lives. “Mostly dead” leaves cracks in the soil affording a fissure for weeds of disobedience to sprout.
But “all dead” produces a loamy soil, lush with life; fruits of the Spirit spring forth from such fertile ground. So, God longs for His children to walk “all dead,” for only then can we truly reflect the attributes of Jesus, Christ living in us.
And if in your “all dead” state you’re fortunate enough to rifle through pockets and find some loose change, be a good steward. Save the change and drop it into the Salvation Army red buckets at Christmas.
Let your light shine. Live “all dead.”
What a great post! Thank you for the chuckle in the reminder of the movie (I have actually seen this one). As for being ‘all dead’, sure I am! But, if anyone goes through my pockets, all they will find is some lint and a half used cough drop (re-wrapped). Isn’t it wonderful when you reach that point in your faith that you can see theology in worldly things? What an awesome thing it is when God speaks to us through the mundane things of life. When I saw ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ it spoke to me – the blood of the son breaks the curse. For those who are ‘mostly dead’ these things are a mystery. Thank you, Bryan! The smile you have given me today was much needed.
Love this post! The Princess Bride is one of my favorite childhood movies, and my hubby and I recently watched it (we’ll wait a couple more years before our 5 and 7 year olds see it). Still funny, but so silly.
Lately I’ve been challenged about what you’ve written here…how “dead” am I to myself, so I can be alive – fully alive – in and for Christ? One of the verses I try to pray each day is John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Thanks for this humorous blessing today!
You know, I actually thought you were going to go somewhere completely different with those lines. I was viewing the “mostly dead” as being better than the “all dead”. I hadn’t thought of the “dead” as referring to the death of the flesh. Great post! I love that movie also.