I grew up in the era when cartoons ran back to back for four hours on Saturday mornings. No DVR or on-demand or Cartoon Network. Saturday morning was the Cartoon Network of my childhood. We slurped our cereal in front of the TV consuming one 13-minute cartoon after another until mom or dad insisted in very loud terms that we get outside and “do something”. We all thought watching cartoons WAS doing something.

Every cartoon, in fact every movie has at least one villain.

Now I want you to imagine your favorite movie without the villain. No one would watch it! Top Gun without the Russian MiG fighters? George Bailey without Mr. Potter? Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. without Hydra? The Avengers without Thanos?

And of course, my childhood favorite, imagine the Road Runner without Wile E. Coyote? Who gets smashed with the ACME piano? Who crashes the ACME rocket into the cliff? Who is going to get hit by the train in the tunnel if Wile E. Coyote doesn’t exist?

The stories that make up our lives also have villains and these villains shape us. In politics, it’s easy to paint our opponents as villains. I did that and proceeded to obsess on every mistake he made. I called him names and devoured memes until I got angry even at the mention of his name. Fortunately, friends helped me put on the brakes and get rebalanced. Because my villain was shaping me – and not in a good way.

When I was 18 in my freshman year in college, I learned that the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia were killing their own people in a genocidal communist purge that led to the death of 1.5 to 2 million people. That was 25% of Cambodia’s population – systematically murdered. “Where was the global outcry?”

At Penn State, a huge protest began and covered Old Main lawn and spilled off campus onto College Avenue and into the town. It was my first protest rally against the injustice and evil committed by real villains in the real world. I’ll never forget it. Because it shaped me.

How do villains shape us? What do they make us do? WE know what they Want to do. The want to victimize, demoralize and paralyze. An ex-spouse or a teacher who has it in for us. The coach who never sees a reason to put us in the game. The boss who ignores us. The abuser, the mocker, the Nay-sayer inside, the Giant within that beats us down. And we all face the spiritual Enemy of our souls.

You see? We face many villains. And with no effort and no faith, they will victimize, demoralize and paralyze us.

Do you remember in the Christmas story called, A Christmas Story,

There was a bully named Skut Farkus who was so fearsome that Ralphie says, “He had yellow eyes! So help me God! Yellow eyes!” And do you remember when Farkus is finally confronted by Ralphie? Ralphie had enough of the red-headed bully and stood up to him. Well, actually he beat the snot out of him. And he proceeded to blurt out profanities which he learned from his father who, and I quote, “In the heat of battle…wove a tapestry of obscenity that, as far as we know, is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.”

Ralphie decided enough was enough and he did something. And Ralphie was different after dealing with his villain.

Now, I’m not saying to beat up your coach or tackle your boss – as much as you may want to. What I’m saying is that without faith and action, we’re victimized. But with faith and action, there’s a different ending to the story for us AND the villain.

Look, for instance, at the story of the greatest Giant-killer of all – David the Shepherd Boy.

So David was a teenager, the youngest of eight sons. While his brothers were off at a standstill in a war against the oppression of neighboring tribes, he was tending the sheep at home. His father sent him to the war camp with food and was hoping he’d return with good news about his brother’s well-being.

David enters the camp and catches sight of an enormous warrior hurling profanities and blasphemies as a challenge toward David’s brothers and allies. His name was Goliath.

“Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, ‘Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.’ Then the Philistine said, ‘This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.’” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. 1 Samuel 17:8-11

Clearly a villain – who by the way stood nearly nine-feet tall. Intimidating and invincible.

This villain aroused in David his sense of justice, his heart of faith and the assurance that good will conquer evil.

After much cajoling with King Saul, his bravery overcame the King’s caution and David the Shepherd was permitted to represent the trembling army in a cage match on rolling valley floor, winner take all.

He shed the borrowed armor and took with him three weapons – his shepherd’s sling, a bag of stones and an unwavering faith.

 “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” [Goliath] cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

Now, one thing David knew about giants. You can topple them with the truth. And this Giant-Killer was a truth-teller.

 “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:43-47

The swift and smaller shepherd sprinted to the battle line and reached into his bag for a stone. The stone flew from the sling and hit its target, the forehead of the villain. The giant fell with a thud. His taunts and intimidation dissipated with his last breath. And that story has been retold to reshape countless victims into victors.

Faith in a big God is always stronger than a loud and lying villain. What are some ways that villains shape us?

Villains challenge our principles. They drive us to our core beliefs and sneer, “You don’t really believe this, do you? Everybody else has watered down their principles in order to just get along. You’ll do the same eventually.” That’s a dare from a villain.

If you see your villains in this light, they can galvanize your beliefs. Strengthen our core. Rally the troops. Like David, we can articulate to ourselves the truth and find strength in it.

Villains also remind us that evil exists. The world is not all butterflies and good vibes. That’s just not reality. Villains remind us that a fight is still going on. That fight is waged within and without. Inside and outside of our selves. And the question is, “Are you going to fight or just give in? Will you fight the villain or just become the victim?”

Villains spew lies and twist truths. The villains inside of us who whisper lies about who we are, our abilities and our gifts are some of the most difficult to battle. Knowing the truth and speaking the truth will stabilize your feet in the battle. When you can pluck out a truth and send it whizzing toward a lie – well, you can imagine the result. Hint: It’s in your favor.

Villains also inadvertently tell us what’s really important. If you read the whole story, you’ll notice at one point the food and the sheep drop out of the storyline. Why? They’re not important at the moment! Facing a villain head on helps you prioritize your energies. Prioritize what we do, what we say, how we say it and where our energy needs to be spent.

In a documentary called Free Burma Rangers, a Christian freedom fighter named Dave Eubanks noticed a little girl against a wall surrounded by dead friends and family in war-torn Mosul. It was a tragic picture. Eubanks knew she would be the next victim in the fire fight that was going on. Hiding behind a US Army tank, he maneuvered to the wall to rescue her as the bullets flew past. They all survived. The priority became clear in that battle – save the girl. When we enter the battle against a villain, priorities become clearer.

It is so easy to allow the Giants in our lives to victimize, demoralize and paralyze. But when we target them with faith and action, those encounters can help us galvanize our beliefs, stabilize on the truth and prioritize our actions.

The last three podcasts we’ve looked at the mountains and mentors, valleys and villains and how they shape you. Maybe you’ve ignored them. Maybe you’ve avoided them. I know I have.

Let me encourage you to turn around and invite them to work in you. They are part of the adventure you are on – this adventure we call life. And thank God we are not static on this journey. We are changing. We are being shaped.

I know St. Paul faced his villains and knew we would too. That’s why he wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

If you want to unpack these ideas further and do some personal reflection, if you want to make the inspirational practical, then go to my website LifeisBestWhen.com for more resources.

Mountains and Mentors. Valleys and Villains. All of them you’ll find in the adventure we call life. So I encourage you to think about this until next time:

Life is best – when we believe “the Dark cannot claim what the Light does not surrender.” [C.L. Wilson]

Never surrender, friends. Fight the good fight of faith!

---

For a personal guide, click on the +NEXT STEP below. For a deeper study guide, click on the +DEEP DIVE below. You can also have either of these guides sent to you weekly by signing up with the buttons on the right.